


I Saw the Necrobot

by sisterawesomeness



Category: Transformers AU - Fandom
Genre: Garrus 9 - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:39:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 28,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4772054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisterawesomeness/pseuds/sisterawesomeness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>E.J. has a habit of getting into trouble with her friend Verity. Then she meets a certain group of bots whose been fighting for years. How will she fit into this dynamic as the Wreckers take on one of their most dangerous missions yet? On Garrus-9. Also, she's not quite right and is stalking Perceptor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: My Take

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing but my OC E.J.!

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." –Edgar Allan Poe

~*~

I sat down and pondered on how to start this. Weird considering I already wrote this with Verity once. But then again that was like writing a report. With this I officially get to tell my side of things. I'm not too sure who's going to end up reading this since it's on my own files. Oh well what the hell? Maybe if someone finds it then it means they're supposed to know what happened too.

Well, I suppose the best thing would be to start at the beginning… Whatever the hell that really is anyway. Seeing as I doubt whoever you are reader gives a shit about who I really am I'll skip my backstory like where I was born and where I took my first shit and stuff and get down to the good part. The part that really matters.

What follows is written in my own words and what I saw happen, or what I heard from my bud Verity a.k.a. Veritron. Oh I almost forgot. You probably want to, at least, know what my name is. I've been called a lot of things. But most call me E.J. a.k.a. Eventron.

I can't promise you I'm not lying cause I can't prove it or that you'll believe me but that's not really my problem is it? Anyway I'm rambling and should get to it.

I saw the Necrobot. No shit.


	2. Garrus-9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The song used in this story is This is Gonna Hurt by Sixx Am._

Sorry, you must want to know a little context of where and when this happened. I'll set the stage alright. Let me think. It began roughly eight months ago. Me and Verity were hanging out with Uncle Magnus when we had to stop at the Igue-Moor Fuel Depot. We were there to pick up a few new recruits.

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

**"Feels like your life is over**

**Feels like all hope is gone**

**You kiss it all away**

**Maybe maybe**

**This is a second coming**

**This is a call to arms**

**Your finest hour won't be wasted wasted**

**Hey hey hell is what you make make**

**Rise against your fate fate**

**Nothing's gonna keep you down**

**Even if it's killing you**

**Because you know the truth,"** I sang at the top of my lungs.

"You may want to tune it down a bit," Verity said. "The newbies are gonna be coming soon. You really want the first thing they see to be you jamming?"

"What's wrong with that?" I asked. I sighed and decided to tone it down for her. "Alright. Uncle Maggie's already yelled at me once today."

I sat down and turned off my tunes as the new bots boarded. "I really hate that guy," one of them said.

"Thank you for choosing Air Wreckers…" Verity greeted them. She still had on her exosuit gloves and I had my suit's legs on. "Please present your roundtrip ticket to hell and back to the stewardesses."

"Ultra Magnus has shrunk," the same one from earlier said. If I remembered from the files he was named Rotorstorm.

"I like you, cheeky," I told him with a smile as they gawked at us.

"Nice," Verity added. "Don't be scared folks. I'm Verity and this is E.J."

"Uncle Maggie will see you later and the Wreckers are on their way," I offered but was interrupted by the one named Pyro.

"By the scared spires! Humans! Optimus Prime's data was right! They're so delicate and in need of our protection…"

"Wow," Verity jumped down. "You're like the mom I never had… We've actually been valuable members of Maggie's crew for the last year."

"Totally," I joined her.

"More like valuable stowaways," the Guzzle guy had to say.

"Hey, no regrets here," she said.

"Or here," I added.

"Been a lot safer in outer space than on Earth recently, right?"

"And Magnus puts up with you two?" Rotorstorm asked. "Must be great cleaners…"

"You did not just go there, pinky," I stated. "I don't think I like you anymore."

"Down girl," Verity put a hand on my arm. "Cyber-sexism, nice, hitman. No, man we're complete and utter assets. So get used to us-'cause we're tagging along with you guys."

"Maybe," he pointed at us. "But you two ain't no Wreckers."

"None of you are," Springer interrupted the moment as he walked in. "Not yet. For those of you who don't know, this here on my right's Twin Twist and Kup. On my left are Perceptor and Topspin. My name's Springer. I'm in charge."

"Percy!" I called and rolled over to him. "You're lookin' good."

"Thank you, E.J.," he replied.

"Dude- That's Kup!" Ironfist meant to say that so low no one would hear him but Verity him. But I did.

"I see him," Verity smiled. "Pfft. He changes his oil like everyone else. Not as often as he should though."

"You, me, and an airlock, kid," Kup told her.

"I'm in!" I chimed.

"All right," Springer interrupted all of us. "Listen up. You guys know better than anyone the mess the Autobots are currently in. But the cleanup begins now. With **Garrus-9**."

~*~

Present Day.

Garrus-9. Holy shit, Garrus-9. None of us knew what we were walking into. All the data files in the universe couldn't prepare us for it.

I thought I was fucked up in the head before this… Geez. Who knew I could be that wrong. Most of our little group probably has nightmares about that place. Not me. I don't dream 'cause I don't sleep. At least, I try not to. I've been pretty successful so far. I managed to remember some nice tips from back home and have been up for four days now.

It's a little hard when I'm just sitting here writing to stay awake so I have to get up a lot and pace around my room. Or do what I'm doing now and blare music I have through the speakers at the top volume.


	3. First and Last

Perceptor wondered what E.J. was up to. A strange occurrence unto itself but incidences like that had been happening frequently as of late. Normally she would visit him in his lab every cycle, perhaps more than once a cycle. She would inquire what he was up to or working on. Depending on his answer she would either stick around to watch him or leave and go about her own business. This had become so common place since she had joined him on Cybertron he came to expect her after some time. That's why he noticed when she didn't come.

He wondered how many cycles it had been exactly since he had been preoccupied with some delicate processes that required his constant attention but it had been far too long. Curiosity got the best of him and he went to investigate to see what exactly she'd gotten herself into. It wouldn't be the first time he had to go and bail her out of a brig or take her away from Prowl.

Logic dictated he check her quarters first so he did. Compared to Cybertronians her room was relatively small. Originally it was a small storage compartment they'd converted into her room/washracks. Although he had noticed the few times he'd seen inside it that she made the most of the space. Screens lined one wall along with a desk and keyboard. The rest of the space was filled to the brim with scraps of metal or items she'd collected over her stay. It always appeared she found something on her little excursions outside to drag back. He could have sworn he also detected a few of his failed experiments but couldn't be too sure. Although he did wonder how she managed to jam a berth into one corner. But even it was not safe from the clutter and often had trinkets littered all over it.

He heard the music before he got there. She was playing her favorite song. That decibel couldn't be healthy for her eardrums. But at least it meant she was there and not getting into trouble somewhere else. He did not wish to be rude but there was no possible way she could hear him knock over the noise. So he opened her door.

She reacted almost immediately to the light by shielding her eyes. Once they adjusted and she saw who it was she hit a few keys and turned down the music. "Oh hey," she smiled at him. He noticed she looked paler than usual and the circles under her optics were far darker than he had seen before. Her clothing appeared more rumpled than normal and her hair was all over the place. "Is the music too loud Perceptor? I'll turn it down."

Instantly he knew something was seriously wrong. She never called him by his full designation. Only by the nickname she'd given him. Also, she was offering to turn down the music on her own than him having to ask her. "E.J.," he forced his vocalizer to work after a moment. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she looked back at the screen in front of her. "Just fixing up a few things. It's a mess in here ya know?"

"If you say so. Have you ingested anything recently and have been getting enough recharge?"

"Yeah. Not to be rude Percy but I got a lot of shit to do. I'll keep it down and see you later." She tapped a few keys and the door closed. He knew something was up but he had no clue as to what.

~*~

That was way too close. It was sweet and everything that he came to check up on me but can't a girl get a little space? You'd think he'd be happy I'm not tearing up the town like I usually do. There's just no pleasing some mechs.

I can't let him in on what I'm doing. He'd say it's against protocol and everything. Probably tell Prowl on me or figure out how to delete my files. Can't have that happening. But I just got my mind in the right place to write this. I can't back down now. Guess there's no real choice but to keep going.

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

"We've had no communication with the prison in more than a year. As far as we knew, the prison had fallen to Decepticon raiders, like so many other outposts. Then, our mole in the **Decepticon Justice Division** tells us that any attempts to get near G-9 have been blown out of orbit with extreme prejudice. With the destruction of the space bridges, there's almost no interstellar travel. Cue us," Springer explained. "Look-we Autobots haven't had it easy these last few years. We've been betrayed by one of our own and damn near erased from existence. You're here now because you've proven yourself already. Each one of you has fought hard on the front line…"

"I'm surprised he's still talking," I whispered to Verity but she elbowed me in the ribs.

"Prevented planets from falling to Megatron. Saved the lives of your comrades and those we seek to protect. You're following in some massive footsteps Autobots. But you're earned your shot at being a Wrecker."

"He means being a practice target." She elbowed me harder this time.

"Welcome to the team. Just be prepared. Sometimes in the Wreckers, your first day is your last."

"No duh. That's exactly _why_ I joined."

~*~

Present Day.

"Primus I'm tired," I rubbed my eyes. It was really hard to stay awake without my music. Then I face palmed. "Duh! I'm such a goof." I pulled out my earphones and popped them in. I turned the music up as loud as I could stand it. "All better. Now where was I?"


	4. Wish I Didn't Hear That

Eight Months Ago.

"I'm so bored, Verity!" I whined at her. I hung onto one of her arms as she walked down the hall. She was able to drag me behind her because my suit's wheels were deployed. "See? This is what happens when you don't let me sing."

"You're awfully clingy today," she kept on without a second thought. "Why don't you go see what Perceptor's up to?"

"He's busy and I don't feel like hacking into the room he's in."

"Then why don't you hang with the rookies?" she offered. "I've got to run a few numbers so I'll meet up with you later."

"Sure," I smiled and wheeled off to find the fresh metal on board. "They need a chaperon." I laughed at my own joke. "Actually, it might be the other way around." Verity was the only one besides the newbs on board who didn't know I needed a chaperon at all times. She thought it was ridiculous but Uncle Maggie would probably glitch if he knew I was running around on my own. I have a tendency to get into trouble. It's not my fault I'm attracted to shiny things and like making objects go boom.

"What up newbs?" I greeted as I found where they were.

"Oh great," Rotorstorm said. "It's you again. I thought Springer took you away."

"Don't be haten'," I told him. "How do you know I'm not your ticket in surviving this mission? You'll feel pretty crappy if I'm the only one who can save you and decided I didn't like your tone."

"I'll take my chances."

"Then I will too."

"Rotorstorm," Pyro spoke up. "Don't be so mean to her. She needs us to watch out for her."

"Whatever you say Mr. I wanna be Prime," I stated. "I've faced worse than all of you combined and came out of it just fine. The trick is to go in, shoot some stuff, run like hell, and bolt out of there. If you can have some fun doing it and run around laughing hysterically then that's part of the package."

"Are all humans like this or are you just damaged?" Guzzle asked.

"I'm one of a kind, shorty. Just ask my Percy."

"You're referring to Perceptor, right?" Ironfist asked me.

"Sure am."

"Are you two…"

"Totally hot for each other? Hell yeah. He just doesn't know it yet. It'll probably only take a few more cycles of me watching him recharge before he sees I'm the one for him." There was an awkward silence and they stared at me oddly after that.

"I feel bad for Perceptor," Twin Twist put out there.

"Me too," Topspin added.

"Does he know you're stalking him?" Rotorstorm asked.

"You mean me following him around and adoring him endlessly? Yeah, but Percy doesn't like to speak openly about our relationship," I leaned against a wall. "He's a real gentlemech."

"Or he's embarrassed to have someone like you after him," Rotorstorm said.

"Rotorstorm!" Pyro stated.

"That was a little mean," Ironfist added.

I interrupted them by laughing. "That was a good one, Stormy. Maybe if you survive this mission you and me can spend some time together. After all you have to recharge sometime." They all gave me a long look. "You alright, Fisty?" I asked noticing him sway a bit. "You're lookin' wobbly there."

"I'm…" before he could get out the rest of it he collapsed on the floor and I had to move out of the way or be squashed.

"Timber," I said as everyone gathered around. I tapped the side of his helm. "Hello? Anyone home?"

"Ironfist!" Pyro exclaimed.

"Should we call someone?" Guzzle inquired.

"Wait," Rotorstorm noticed his optics were opening again. "He's coming around."

"Get Perceptor," Twin Twist stated. "Maybe he can."

"What did I?" Ironfist sat up.

"Hey, man," Topspin told him. "Blacked out there for a minute."

"You okay?" Guzzle asked. "This happen to you **before**?"

"Well, I," he stalled.

"I think we should," Pyro stated.

"I'm fine!" he got back up to his pedes. Thanks to his mouth mask I couldn't tell for sure but I think he was smiling. "Show's over folks. I'm all good now," he started walking away.

"Heh…" Guzzle chuckled. "I reckon being near his heroes was too much for old 'Fistitron' here!"

"Yeah," I threw out. "That's happened to me before around my Percy. Sometimes he'd just too much mech for me. Though it mainly happens in the berth."

"I so wish I didn't hear that," Rotorstorm stated.

"No way," Twin Twist said. "Fistitron wrote all those 'Wreckers: Declassified' datalogs… That's you?!"

"Fanboy moment," I giggled.

"Ha! You're famous Ironfist!" Guzzle laughed.

He sighed as Guzzle smacked him on the back. He turned to face everyone again. "So the history of the Wreckers is my thing-so what? Nothing else to do on Kima, why not have a hobby? It just grabbed me: The siege of T'muk, the Roadbuster affair, the showdown of Pova. So I hit high command with a million data access requests, get 'em to send me mission reports, psych profiles, the lot-and it's all gold. But I'm guessing the best stuff was what they held back-like Twin Twist and Topsin's files, for example…"

"Hear that, Topspin?" Twin Twist smiled. "We're officially classified!"

"Maybe I should change my name to Top Secret."

"Was that… A joke?" Rotorstorm questioned. "I didn't know you guys did jokes."

"Wish we could give you a scoop, 'Fistitron,'" Topspin told him. "But the only thing that sets us apart from the rest is a knack for saving each other's skin. Yeah, and as of last count, I'm ahead by six saves."

"Get slagged," Twin Twist told him.

"Point is, we're just another pair of gunslingers, yeah?"

"So no more data access requests, no more prying, understood?"

I noticed Ironfist heading out the door and decided to follow him. But I heard Rotorstorm open his big mouth on the way out. "Yeah, enough about you two! Pyro, any reason why you've stolen Optimus Prime's look?"

We ran into Springer and Kup out in the hall. "Ironfist! Everything ok?" Springer asked.

"Of course," he kept on down the hall. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Need to keep an eye out for him…"

"Need to keep an eye out for yerself, kid. And an eye on this one," he must have noticed me trying to sneak past them but grabbed me.

"Aw."

"E.J.," Springer said. "You know you're not allowed to go around on your own."

"Don't change the subject," I motioned for Kup to continue.

He did. "Something's on yer mind." They both knew I could keep a secret and it was obvious they weren't going to let me go on my way.

"I dunno, Kup. Sometimes it seems pointless building these teams, just to see 'em ripped apart. It's one thing seeing your buddies fall by the wayside over time, but losing bots under your command."

"Don't haveta tell me, kid," Kup told him. "Hurts harder when they fall followin' orders you gave 'em. He's weighin' heavy on ya, aint' he?"

"Who?"

"C'mon… Welcomin' fresh faces, dwellin' on bein' in command, headin' to Garrus-9 of all places? Must be hard not to think of Impactor."

"Hard," he turned away from us and me and Kup shared a look. "But not impossible."

So, then we got called up to the bridge where Kup sat me in my station opposite of Verity's. "What's the problem, Magnus?" Springer asked him.

"A Decepticon dropship just cropped up in out flightpath to Garrus-9," he answered.

"That's gotta be a coincidence, right?"

"Sure. These things usually are."

"Not lookin' too healthy," Kup noted. "They makin' much noise?"

"None," Magnus told him. "Apart from the distress beacon we found them by."

"Hull integrity won't hold out for much longer," Verity stated.

"It's gone to shit," I added running my own scans.

"All weapons are trained on them in case they try something 'hilarious,'" Magnus informed everyone.

"Want me to go to Uhura mode and hail 'em again?" Verity asked.

"I'll try one more time. Attention, Decepticon vessel. This is Ultra Magnus, duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accord."

"Don't bother," I spoke up. "She's gonna blow." The next second it did in a burst of fire. "Called it."

"Looks like you got us up here just to watch the show," Kup said.

"Hmm," Magnus brooded.

"Uh on," Verity stated. "Looks like someone made it out before the ship went up."

"They're commin' at us," I finished.

"What?!" Magnus exclaimed.

"Verity, E.J., lock forward weapons on," Springer started.

"Hold it!" Kup stopped him. "Don't you see who it is?"

"Oh no," Springer gasped.

"Even after deca-cycles behind bars, unmistakable," Ultra Magnus said and looked like someone just shit on his computer. Kup had much the same expression. "Impactor."

He looked battered and like he'd gone twenty rounds with a bulldozer but sure enough it was him. "Permission to come aboard?" he commend.

~*~

Present Day.

It was a cool explosion and I've seen a few in my day. Plus, Uncle Maggie and Kup's faces were priceless. Too bad I didn't have a camera. I shrugged my shoulders and wondered when the last time I ate was. I brushed it off seeing as I wasn't hungry yet but I had a few bars in my pack. I was good shower wise cause I just took one that morning. "Hm," I pondered for a moment.

I was then blinded by a light that entered my room as I realized my door was being opened again. "What the hell?" I looked over and saw Percy was back. I popped the earbugs out of my head and looked at him. "What's shackin' handsome? Need somethin' or are you just here to finally confess your love to me?"

"E.J.," I knew by the tone he was serious. "Would you come out here for a bit?"

"Sure, just let me grab something," I snatched up my pack and stuffed a bar into my face. Might as well eat because it would keep me from having to talk.

"It has come to my attention you have not left your room for many cycles," he told me.

"So what? I've been busy and you do the same when you're experimenting or researching."

"And what do you tell me when this occurs?" he inquired. I stuffed the rest of the bar in my face so I wouldn't have to answer. "You tell me to go out and get a fresh perspective. Now," he bent down and put his hand on the floor. "Come with me."

"I don't have a choice do I?" I asked.

"No."

"Fine, if only you were this dominating in the berth. Now that would get me going." He ignored my comment as I climbed into his hand and he led me toward the door.


	5. Off the Path

Present Day.

Perceptor took me out and set me down on the bridge leading to the building we were in. "I want you to take one of those walks you enjoy," he told me. "It can only be good for you."

"You're not coming with?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not. I have a time sensitive experiment I must get back to soon. However, I expect you to be on your best behavior."

"You know me too well, Percy," I smirked at him.

"I will be disappointed if you do not stay on the designated path I have laid out."

"You just don't want to come bail me out when Prowl calls you."

If Perceptor ever let out a sigh it would have been now. "He does not care for the fact I have had to come retrieve you over five times in the last six cycles. He stated that the next time this occurs you will have to stay in his brig for a cycle."

"Sure," I scoffed. "He wouldn't be able to stand me an entire cycle."

"E.J. Please stay on the path and not cause trouble. If not for yourself then for me." Percy didn't do pleading but he knew how to play me.

"You're playing dirty, Percy," I turned away from him and started walking. "But fine! I won't stir shit up. Now go back and play with your toys. If any of 'em fail then let me know."

"Very well and remember what I said," he called after me.

"See ya!" I hid my smirk until I got off the bridge and rounded the nearest corner. "Yes!" It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. I had an extra datapad shoved in my pack. I could still work on my shit without Percy here. But I would have to wait until I got a little further away from the house to do it.

The first thing I did was go off the path I take when I travel with Percy. Instead I went on the path I go when I'm alone. It's not that I didn't like the path I walked with Percy. We would pass the other science buildings, the library under construction, and usually end up either in the vendor area or if we didn't feel like being bothered we'd go to the area they were trying to make into a park. It was nice and everything but boring.

My path took what I would call the long way around. I liked going into the darker underbelly of the city. First, I traveled through some alleys and kept going until I got into the more tore up area. Well, more shitty. Unlike the more redone modern areas they were trying to fix no one gave a shit about this place. And luckily for me no one liked to come around here unless they were seriously overcharged or looking for a quick frag. So I wouldn't be disturbed.

I found a decent area for me to sit before I pulled out the pad and started up again. It would be a while before Percy would get suspicious. If he was tied up then it could be cycles before he even noticed I was gone. It had happened before. Yes, he was a little observant right now but if there's one thing I know and love about him then it's how he can just throw himself totally into a project. Nothing else can really get his attention… If only he'd do that in the berth. Oh happy birthday to me. But I better get back to this and fantasize later.

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

I swear you'd think we brought a bomb on board the way everyone scrambled. Uncle Maggie, Percy, Springer, and Kup all took Impactor and piled into one of the medical rooms to fix him up and converse. Meanwhile the newbs were left to speculate what was going on and bitch in one of the meeting rooms. Kup was wise to how I operated so he gave me and Verity jobs to keep us busy.

The joke was on him. We work way faster than he could predict. That and the fact we rolled around on our suit's wheels. We actually met up outside the room with the numbers we had to collect.

"And you, Magnus?" we heard Impactor practically yell through the door. "You want to send me to my room, too?"

"What I want is for you to cool down," Uncle Maggie answered. "Get Ironfist to fix you a new hand."

We both looked to each other and hid against either side of the walls as the door swung open. "Know what I used to think back on Garrus-9?" we heard Impactor say and he must have been the one to walk out of the door. "For all his holier-than-thou shtick, Springer would have done the same as me. That's what really used to eat me up… Springer would have done the same." We heard him stop and I think he turned to face them. "But now, you know what? I don't think you would. And believe me, pal, in my eyes that makes you a whole lot worse."

Impactor walked past us without seeing and as soon as he was gone me and Verity practically glued ourselves to the door so we could hear better. "Easy, Springer. Impactor's been through a lot-even before Garrus-9. Besides, I think you need him on your team."

"I guess so," Springer stated. "He's wise to Overlord's fetishes, he knows his way around Garrus-9. He's made a contact in this Snare character, and he can probably get us to the prisoners faster."

"I just thought you could use the extra muscle," Maggie said. "But yeah… All that other stuff too."

"And you're sure you won't come with us?"

"Look, it's easier for me to turn a blind eye to the Wreckers' methods when I'm not in the same bloodbath as you guys."

"A one-way trip to Earth?" Verity looked at me. "I don't think so."

"This is gonna be fun," I smiled at her.

"There was something else Prowl wanted," Uncle Magnus went on. "He gave me a name… Said it would mean something to the both of us."

"What's the name?"

"Aequitas."

~*~

Present Day.

I stopped as I heard what sounded like thunder overhead. "You've got to be shitting me," I grumbled and had to pack up my pad. If there's one thing I can't stand about this planet is its freaking weather. Perceptor explained to me once how the metal and energon of this planet really mix up and create some horrible storms. This could just be a rather harmless dust storm. It would only suck if you were out in the open somewhere. However, from the sound of it I could tell it was gonna rain.

Rain usually didn't bother me but it does here on Cybertron. Then again it's not exactly normal rain. It's acid rain. And trust me the name isn't for kicks. The acid content is more concentrated here than in the rain on earth. It could range from being nearly harmless to ruining someone's paint in a couple of hours. Either way I didn't want to be caught out in it.

I did once and it burned really bad. I have a high pain tolerance but if Percy hadn't snatched me up I would have had third degree burns in a minute. "Guess Percy didn't check the weather reports." It didn't matter too much though. I knew somewhere close I could hang out in until it cleared up ahead. "Hope they don't still blame me for starting that riot last time I was there. Then again that mech shouldn't have started shit he couldn't finish."


	6. What Could Go Right?

Relinquishment Clinics are weird places. Not too many know what they are or that they still exist. Percy explained to me the entire thing about how they used to offer knew bodies and there were issues with Prowl and the Institute or the New Institute. I have no clue how it's referred to anymore. The basic premise is that now they specialize in helping bots offline if they want to and pay a certain price.

I was stunned when I first heard this. It wasn't hard for bots to die they did it in the war and accidents all the time. Were they so unoriginal they couldn't offline on their own? Maybe it has something to do with how the clinics offered to do it nicely.

Anyway I managed to get there just as the rain hit. "Holy Pete, hold the door!" I yelled and ran in behind someone. "Thanks," I gasped out to the bot who held it. The next second I heard the rain pour down outside. "That was close." Ironic that I would find safety from dying in the place that specialized in offlining bots.

This was one of the few clinics still open. Well, one of the few that Prowl hadn't condemned or the Institute didn't have its claws in. It was pretty depressing inside but what else would you expect? Everyone was either there to sell death or seeking it. It's a wonder I never ran into the Necrobot here but that's another matter.

Business had died down in this place since the war was basically over but that didn't mean there wasn't a line. Even after being decimated by war these guys still had numbers on us humans. "Hey," I greeted one of the bots who worked there. They'd seen me around enough to know who I was.

"E.J.," he greeted me with that creepy/friendly smile he wore. I wonder if he didn't turn away as many customers as he suckered in. "I see you're back. Still looking or are you here to finally buy? I assure you we may not specialize in organic passing's but we could surely find a solution you would be comfortable with."

"No thanks," I told him. "I just came here to get away from the rain."

"Very well," he vented and I could see his frame noticeably react. "If you change your mind I could offer you a reasonable discount."

"I swear that other guy started it," I said. "I didn't mean for it to turn into a riot."

"Of course you didn't. I was in no way referring to that incident. Now if you'll excuse me," he moved on. "I have clients to attend to."

I shrugged and moved to a corner where I could sit down. "Can you help me up?" I asked a bot sitting on a bench against the wall. He did. "Thanks," I smiled at him and pulled out my datapad. I nodded at some of the other bots working there I recognized. Some shook their heads while others nodded back or waved before going about their work. They knew me well enough to let me be. In all honesty, I think they didn't kick me out for two reasons. One, they didn't want me to raise a fuss and say they didn't cater to anyone who wanted to come there. They knew I would too. And two, they knew if they forced me out it would not only look bad for them but I'm fairly sure Perceptor and Prowl would tear this joint up and that was not something they wanted.

So, I set about the task I was doing.

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

We all congregated to hear the game plan. "We'll be arriving in orbit above Garrus-9 in less than ten cycles," Uncle Maggie told everyone. "Impactor here will be joining you on your mission. Unfortunately, he brought with him some unsettling news…"

"Nice work on Impactor's new," I head Rotorstorm whisper to Ironfist. "Whatever it is. Did you ask him-"

"Why he quit?" Ironfist asked. "No. It didn't seem appropriate."

"We thought that Skyquake and his predators were just using G-9 as a link in the Decepticons' energon supply train," Magnus went on. "Not so. For the last three years, G-9 has been ruled by **Overlord**."

"Overlord?" Guzzle asked.

"Daammm," Topspin whined.

"Oh, slag," Twin Twist exclaimed.

"This is not happening," Pyro said. "This is **not** happening."

"Wasn't expecting that," I looked around at their expressions.

"Wow," Verity stated. "I didn't know robots did sharp-intakes-of-breath. What's an Overlord?" she asked Kup.

"The Decepticons' most high-profile deserter. Used to be a general but now…Well, no one's quite sure…" He explained how Overlord was used as a final solution. He liked killing and he was good at it. Apparently Kup met him once on some place called Caldoon 4. He gave the old mech a real beating… The way Kup described it the guy's mind wasn't in it which makes it all the more creepy. Then left before finishing off with the words, "Tell Megatron I've chosen option 2 and that I'll be waiting for him."

"Strangest thing I ever saw," Kup finished up. "Me an' everyone else kinda thought he was dead. Guess not." I wasn't sure about Verity but that story was both depressing and awesome at the same time.

"Er…Kup?" Ultra Magnus interrupted the moment. "What did I tell you about talking up the enemy?" I noticed everyone else at the meeting was staring at us. "Overlord is powerful but he's not omnipotent. His presence on G-9 complicates this mission, but doesn't change the principal objectives. Springer?"

He brought up a holographic layout of the prison. "Impactor says there are fifty Autobots down there, mostly ex-guards, held in cell blocks in the southern dome. Rescuing them is our first objective. Our second objective is-"

"Kill Overlord!" Guzzle offered.

"Thank you, Guzzle. For reminding me why I recruited you. But no. The second objective is to find Aequitas. Some of you will recognize the name. But most of you won't. All that matters is that Aequitas is down there amongst hundreds of Decepticons, and that's not good." He brought up the forcefield around the place. "This is a lattice forcefield. To break through it we'll adapt the divide-and-conquer approach we used to penetrate Magma's orbital shield."

"You used two ships to hit separate weak points at exactly the same time, angle, and speed, finally compromising the shield's structural integrity!" Ironfist gushed. "Mission 078/088 Operation: volcano. Classic."

"Remind me to get this guy into my Batman comics later," I told Verity.

"We'll land two drop pods on the southern dome, free the prisoners, find Aequitas, steal a troop carrier, and get the hell out of there."

"Sounds simple enough," I whispered to Verity and we shared a knowing smile.

"That's the plan?" Pyro asked. "Not exactly Prime's fivefold maneuver, is it?"

"Turn up and shoot…" Springer told him. "'Bout as fancy as it gets with us Wreckers. You wanna spend all day calculating 'Tolerable margins of error?' call Prowl. Much simpler with me kid, if you're dead. You failed."

"Hang on," Kup brought up. "Only Rotorstorm's got what it takes to hit a weak spot on a lattice forcefield. He's got one of the pods under control. Who's got the other?"

"Me again, old man," Rotorstorm told him. "Remote control. And yes, I am that good."

"So that's the plan, Wreckers," Springer finished up with a smirk. "What could possibly go right?"

"Us," I told Verity and we went off to get ready.

~*~

Present Day.

"Dear Primus!" Perceptor exclaimed when he saw it was raining out. He'd been so busy he hadn't even bothered to see what the weather might have been like. He only realized what it was doing when he heard the pings on the building. He immediately commend as many bots as he knew once he saw E.J. had not returned. "Easy kid," Kup told him. "You know her. She's somewhere just waiting to give Prowl a sparkattack."

"That's partially what I fear."

"We'll find her one way or the other. Will retrace her steps and find her squatting somewhere ready to make your life a living hell or…"

"We'll get a call," Perceptor finished for him. He didn't know which situation would be worse.


	7. Much Much Worse

"Excuse me?" a bot asked me and I paused to look up. He looked like any other bot running around in this place. Orange and blue armor that looked like it had seen better days and the traditional blue optics. I honestly don't think I would have been able to pick him out in a crowd.

"Yeah?"

"That bot over there. He said your designation was E.J. wasn't it?" At the mention of my name again I saw some more bots looking over in my direction.

"Sure is. Although a lot of bots call me Eventron too."

"Eventron!" someone exclaimed.

"E.J.!" Someone else said.

"You're really E.J.?" he asked.

"The one and only. Do I owe you money or something?"

"No, it's just…"

"You were chronicled in the Last Stand of the Wreckers!" someone interrupted him.

"No," someone corrected. "She was one of the ones that chronicled the Last Stand of the Wreckers."

"Technically both," I told them.

"What are you doing here?" the first one asked. "Please don't tell me you're here to…"

"Offline? Nah. At least not for this cycle. I just came here to get out of the rain. It's terrible out there."

"I can't believe I'm meeting you," he said. "May I?" he indicated the now empty seat beside me.

"Sure," I shrugged. A couple other bots hung around us and one sat on the other side of me.

"What was it like?" one asked. "To be with the Wreckers on Garrus-9?"

"Was it as horrible as it was written?" another inquired.

"Awesome to the first. The Wreckers know how to party no doubt about that. And as for the second. Way worse. There's just no words for some things." If robots could pail I think they would have. "Anything else you want to know? I got some time."

"What are you doing?" one indicated the pad in my hands.

"Oh this? Well, I don't think it would be smart to tell anyone. It might get me in trouble…" Their faces fell a little. "But what the hell? I've never shied away from trouble before. If you really want to know I'm working on the Last Stand of the Wreckers. It was chronicled awesomely and everything but this time around it's my turn to say what I was thinking and shit during it."

"Really?"

"It might sound a little redundant to write it twice but it's not like I have anything else to do. Besides, I didn't get to put in the report how I saw the Necrobot."

The room went wild. "What?!"

"The Necrobot!"

"He exists!"

"You really saw him!"

"Did you see the shimmer too?"

"Where did you see him? On Garrus-9?"

"Take it down a notch," I told them covering my ears. "Yes, I really did see him but I'm not on that part of the story yet. I won't be for a little while anyway. But yeah he exists. And no I did not see the shimmer to whoever asked that random question."

"Can we hear some of it?" one mini-bot asked in front of me.

"Just a little," someone else said to his left.

"Please?" the bot next to me pleaded.

"I don't see why not. Ya'll are basically on death row anyway. Who are you gonna tell? Not that I care in the first place." I sat the datapad back in my lap and turned it back on to where I'd left off. "But please hold off all questions until the end of this study session." I got some weird looks at that but I didn't mind. "Ok, so once upon a time… Me and Veritron snuck off to write Uncle Maggie a note."

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

We had to be stealthy as we wrote Uncle Magnus a note about what we were doing. Then we snuck past everyone to get our suits and chose which pods we were going in. "I chose you pod 2!" I exclaimed.

"Keep it down," Verity shushed me. "I'll see ya soon ok?"

We stared at each other and I patted her on the back. "Yeep. You watch over yourself and remind Percy he better not die. Or I'll kill him."

"I'll tell your man," she smiled and we quickly hugged before we ran in the pods. Good thing too because I heard Rotorstorm go into the pod Verity was in not a minute later.

Ten minutes later everyone piled into their pods and we got under way. With Uncle Maggie none-the-wiser. Tehe.

"Okay, Magnus," I heard Springer say. "Time to cut us lose." I felt the ship drop and we were in space heading toward hell planet. "Good luck people," I heard Maggie say through the comm. "May your wires never cross and your luster never dull."

"Tell that to Kup," I snickered.

"Springer," Rotorstorm came over the comm next. "I'll take control of your pod after atmospheric entry, ok?"

"Roger that, Rotorstorm," Springer replied. I felt a change as we entered the atmosphere and knew they couldn't turn back. So I popped out of my hiding place.

"Hello peeps!" I said.

"E.J.!" Springer exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Should have seen this one coming," Kup lifted me up and vented. "I take it Verity's in the other pod?"

"You guessed it."

"Well isn't this great," Springer sounded exasperated already.

"Just try not to get in the way," Guzzle told me.

"How about you bend over and we'll see how far I can shove that obscurely large gun up your aft?" I countered.

He didn't have time to counter as Rotorstorm came over the comm. "This is your daredevil pilot speaking. Hold onto your sparks 'cause we're about to encounter a little…" I'm guessing we hit the forcefield cause the ship felt like it slammed into a wall. "Turbulence!"

It was then that the cons decided to get off their lazy afts and began firing at us. I happened to glance over at the other pod and saw one of the hottest sights ever. My Percy was being suspended by his legs outside of a hole in his pod and shooting down the cons left and right. Boy did that send a shock through me in all the right places.

In our own pod we opened the hatch and Twin Twist got on the guns with Impactor jammed in behind him so he could shoot too. "Time to take your medicine, flyboys!" Twin Twist called.

"Me too, me too!" I went to join them but Kup kept ahold of me.

"Save it for later kid," he told me.

"Aww. I never get to have any fun."

Someone blasted the side of our ship good. It knocked Twin Twist off the gun but Impactor managed to catch him. "Gotcha!"

"Verity's crew is goin' down!" I noted.

"Them and us both," Guzzle and everyone else held on for dear life as we fell out of the sky.

I'm really not sure how we made it out of that alive. The ship crashed into the side of the prison and basically tore itself apart. Kup somehow still had ahold of me but he was like everyone else and was sprawled out all over the place on the floor. "Remind me to tell Rotorstorm he sucks at driving," I stated. Before we knew it the cons were on us.

"Move!" Springer yelled as everyone got to their pedes and grabbed their weapons.

"Hope Verity had a better landing," I sighed as I positioned myself on Kup's shoulder as he ran. It was easier for me to shoot this way.

~*~

Meanwhile.

Like I previously stated I will mostly tell this from my perspective. However, I will throw in parts I feel were extremely important, cool, or simply plain messed up. I only know this 'cause Verity rocks and she told me everything.

Her crew had landed right in the pit and their pod didn't fare much better than ours. Somehow no one died and Verity climbed out of the wreckage with the others. They were in the pit area and optics glared at them from all sides. "Okay," she said. "So we've arrived. What happens now?"

"Now?" she looked up and saw the massive evil Overlord smirking down at her. "Things go from bad to much, much **worse**."

~*~

Present Day.

"I gotta say this," I stopped and looked up at everyone around me. "He wasn't wrong about that. Getting to Garrus-9 was the easy part. Everything that happened after that… Well that **was** hell. We were just too stupid or foolish to realize how bad it could be."


	8. Break All the Rules

"Ya know," I told them. "I think I should take a sec and honor Fisitron with what I remember of the Wreckers' Unofficial Training Manual. Wanna hear it?"

Before anyone could answer one of the bots who worked there came over to my group that had formed. "Excuse me, Tamper? We're waiting for you."

"Uh," the guy next to me said. He looked between the bot, me, and the rest of the group. "I think I'm just gonna… Take a rain check on this."

"I'm sorry?" the bot asked.

"He said he's not gonna do it," I stated. I didn't really have an issue with this place or what it did. It was everyone's choice what they wanted to do with their lives. But I couldn't stand it when someone tried to pressure a bot into this. "End of story."

The bot gave me a dirty look but other than that didn't do anything. "I assure you the procedure is painless. And the credits are non-refundable."

"Neither is his life," I put out there.

"I understand," the bot told the worker. "I'm sorry for wasting your time but I just… Can't." The worker seemed a little disappointed but shrugged before moving off to collect the next bot.

"Tamper? Huh. Nice enough name," I threw out there. "Reminds me of tamper like tampering with something."

"Really?" the bot shrugged. "I've always kind of hated my name."

"You could always change it then. I did mine. I've always hated my original name. Now you guys know me as E.J. or Eventron. But like I said I like it at least. Sounds like you can mess around with stuff and never get caught. It's not the worst name I ever heard of. And I heard of someone named Dipstick before." I noticed I was getting off topic. "But I digress. So anyone remember where I was?" I couldn't help but yawn.

"The Wreckers' Unofficial Training Manual?" someone offered.

"That's it!" I snapped my fingers. "Ok, so the first 'rule' of being a Wrecker is 'stick together': the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. But if you do get separated, finding your teammates automatically becomes your first priority. The second rule is to 'keep calm'. You must undertake every mission with the same icy detachment. Rule three is don't make it personal. Ummm…. I almost always forget rule four. Rule four. Oh yeah rule four is 'always focus on the positives'. And rule five is 'stay the course'. You might be wondering why exactly I'm bringing these up. It's simple. Because bless his spark Fisitron was awesome and everything but he wasn't right on those. 'Cause what happened next is that we broke all those rules."

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

We ran down the narrow corridor as we were being shot at. Twin Twist got hit in the shoulder. "We've lost the others!" Guzzle shouted to be heard.

"No duh, captain obvious!" I yelled firing with my suit's weapons at the cons right behind us.

"I saw them heading toward the Pit," Impactor told us. "They're gonna land in Overlord's lap!"

"They can look after themselves!" Guzzle turned and shot with the gun Ironfist had given him. "We've got our own problems!" Each time he shot some cons' head exploded.

Kup and I joined in the fun and I'm pretty sure we were letting out battle cries. "It's payback time!" Impactor shouted. "This is for Maximus-and the rest!"

Twin Twist stood behind a wall column as Springer tried to fix the wound in his shoulder. "This is bad," Springer noted. "We're outpaced, outflanked, and outgunned. And for all we know, the others died when their drop pod crashed!"

"Easy, boss," Twin Twist told him. "They're okay. Well, Topspin is. Face it we're the ones that need help."

~*~

Meanwhile.

Verity and the others were being surrounded by cons and were face-to-face with Overlord. Of course Rotorstorm had to run his mouth and he paid for it. Overlord acted like he was laughing at the ridiculous joke the bot had made and then shot him point-blank through his helm. I heard it blew the entire back of his helm out and his energon and brain parts flew onto the others.

~*~

At the same time.

"Ha ha!" Guzzle laughed. "Look! Their heads blow up! Every. Single. Time. Thanks for the cerebro-centric ammo, Ironfist, we really are grateful."

"Guzzle," Springer stood next to him. "Tank mode. Now. And bring the house down."

"Got it! That should buy us some time. Well, as much time as it takes 'em to dig their way out. That's the thing about escaped prisoners; very good at tunneling."

"That's it. **I give up**. Kup, Guzzle-go get help like we discussed. We'll find the Autobot prisoners." He took me off of Kup's shoulder. "And E.J.'s coming with us."

"Come on, old-timer," Guzzle said to Kup. "Let's you and me have some together time." They took off down the hall as we hung back.

"The prisoners are in Cell Block G," Impactor reported. "Which is directly below us. I think…"

"You think?" I asked.

"Leave it to me," Twin Twist stated.

"Hold it," Springer stopped him. "You're injured. You even attempt drill mode, it's gonna hurt like hell."

"We can take it," he replied.

"Let's you know you're alive," I noted from Springer's shoulder. He transformed and started drilling a hole through the floor. But I noticed he let out a grunt of pain.

~*~

With Verity's group.

Turns out Topspin felt the same pain. "This just isn't working out, is it Wreckers?" Overlord taunted. "A suggestion; surrender. **Give up**."

"Pyro," Percy turned to the other bot. "The human."

"Verity?" Pyro asked. "What about her?"

"Do as Prime would do: protect her and let the rest of us make Overlord pay." My Percy's so bad ass when he wants to be. Him, Topspin, and Ironfist went at Overlord and Pyro shoved Verity in his chest.

~*~

With the rest of us.

"I'm nearly through!" Twin Twist announced. "What the?" he broke through and all I saw was thin air. "I'm drilling into thin air!"

"We're right behind you!" Springer told him. "Hang on E.J.," he jumped in after him. "Twin Twist! Switch to robot mode," he transformed and I ended up in his cockpit. "And hang on." Twin Twist and Impactor held onto him and we were being shot at. Again.

"Shooter's mine," Impactor used his new hook and harpooned it into the shooter and took him out.

"Cool," I noted as the others jumped off once we reached the bottom. Springer transformed and put me back on his shoulder. "It's an energy reactor," he said. "And it looks like we're not the first to take a tumble into it."

"Kick-off," Impactor stated examining the body. "Ex-guard. One of the few who treated us with a degree of respect."

"Looks like he went ten rounds with the Reapers."

"Springer?" Twin Twist asked but they didn't hear him.

"He was a Pit champion: 11 kills. After fight 12, Overlord gives you a **choice**."

"Springer?"

"What's the choice?" Springer asked.

"Something tells me it's not a ticket out of here," I looked over and saw Twin Twist messing with a computer.

"No one knows. But looks like Kick-off made the wrong one."

The conversation was interrupted when alarms blared and the room went red with emergency lights. "Springer!" Twin Twist yelled. "We've triggered some sort of defense mechanism-we're gonna get vaporized!"

"Locked!" Springer checked the door. "We're sealed in!"

Impactor attempted to climb the walls. "This is one way to go out," I calmly stated. "Verity you get all my shit. Percy you've always rocked my world!"

"Then helicopter us the hell out of here and-" Twin Twist was cut off as an electric charge shot through the room.

I'm pretty sure if it weren't for the protection of my suit and the fact this wasn't the first time I'd been horribly shocked then I might have been in real trouble. As it was it just hurt like a royal bitch and knocked us all out.


	9. Enjoy the Show

Present Day.

I remember a lot of things. The pain of being electrocuted. Of being tossed around and carried somewhere. Verity told me what happened around the same time.

The guys tried but Overlord overpowered them and said whoever brought him the head of a Wrecker could leave. No surprise everyone came after Verity's team. But once again my Percy was awesome and blew up the extra fuel they'd brought with them. Then, Ironfist had a moment and once again Percy had to get everyone through it and moving. I also know that Kup and Guzzle were en route to get some backup.

It seemed to take forever but Verity and team made it to the chamber. Found Maximus being used as a living lock-pick and then Percy knew the codes and got them inside as the cons were pounding down the door. Turned out Aequitas was a super computer and they took Max with them.

If I concentrate hard enough I can still remember the feel of being chained to a wall…

~*~

Elsewhere.

The fact E.J. was running around on her own was not something Prowl was happy about. But Perceptor didn't really have the energy to care about what he thought. They'd been out for hours and had no sign of E.J. or any clue where she could be. That's when Kup got a tip.

"Hey, kid?"

"Yes?"

"I think I got somethin'. One of the workers at a Relinquishment Clinic called a buddy of mine. Says there's an organic there."

"A Relinquishment Clinic?" He knew E.J. liked to visit some risky venues but he never thought she'd go somewhere like that. He had no idea why she'd be there. She wouldn't… She must have gone there to get out of the rain. It didn't matter. He picked up his pace as the rain finally let up.

~*~

Meanwhile.

"E.J.?" I heard.

"Eventron?"

"Is she alright?"

"Should we call someone?"

"Who should we call?"

"Wait, she's coming online!"

I opened my eyes and realized I'd dozed off and was leaning up against Tamper. Everyone around me seemed pretty freaked and I still had the datapad in my hands. "Wha? Opps. Sorry about that folks. I must've conked out for a few there." I stretched a little and my arm cracked.

"You were just talking," someone stated.

"And then your optics got a little glazed," another added.

"Then you leaned against me and fell into recharge," Tamper ended.

"Huh. Well I have been up a while. Suppose it finally caught up to me." I noticed the rain had stopped. "I'm afraid I must be off my avid listeners." I got up and grabbed the pad.

"What?"

"Why?" someone whined.

"I'm on the run," I answered and someone helped me down to the floor. "Thanks. Not everyone's gonna be as happy as you guys that I'm making this. So I gotta stay a step ahead of everyone."

"Who'd be upset with you?" Tamper asked.

"Well there's Percy for one. I'm not sure what the other Wrecker's would think of this and I'm going to be lucky if I don't give Prowler a sparkattack."

"Prowl!"

"You mean the Prowl?"

"I don't know any others," I replied.

"Will we be able to read it later?" a mini-bot asked me with a pathetic look on his face. The others all seemed hopeful and disappointed at the same time.

"Depends," I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure you guys won't be able to read it if you're dead." That got them thinking and they all looked around nervously at each other. "I'll make ya a promise though. You lot stay alive and you'll find out what happened on Garrus-9, how I got this mark on my face," I indicated the X shaped mark on my face. "And where and when I saw the Necrobot."

I headed for the door and I heard what sounded like all of them following me. The workers shouted a few things and my followers yelled back. When we were outside I turned and saw everyone who'd been listening to my tale was outside. "Nice. Remember this bots, if nothing else from my ramblings. No matter what happens or how bad things get. It could always be worse. Far worse. Think of every terrible awful thing which happened to all the Autobots, Decepticons, and Wreckers on Garrus-9. Now, I know life can sometimes suck balls but it ain't all bad. You lot could have been stuck on G-9 with us. You could have seen what we saw and experienced what we did. But you didn't and won't have to. Nothing that happens to you here and now could be nearly as bad as that. And look at those of us who made it. We're still here and we're all fucked up in one way or the other. Well, until next time!"

I took off with my datapad as shouts of encouragement and my name were called behind me. I didn't slow down until I was well out of earshot and line of sight. "It's time to see an old friend."

~*~

At the Clinic.

Perceptor and Kup made it to the destination Kup's source had told them. They saw a large crowd of bots standing outside in deep conversation. "That's odd," Kup noted. Places like those didn't exactly inspire bots to meander in front of it.

"Excuse me," Perceptor got one bot's attention. "I'm looking for an organic. You may have-"

"He must mean E.J.!" someone said.

Conversations turned to them as everyone looked. They all seemed to have their own opinion about the matter. "That must be Perceptor."

"And the other's Kup!"

"They must be looking for her."

"Eventron was right."

"Good thing she left when she did…"

"She left?" Perceptor asked whoever had said that last part. "Please," he implored the crowd. "It is important we locate her and make sure she is alright."

"More like we gotta keep her from burning down the city," Kup unhelpfully added.

"Don't talk about Eventron like that!" a mini-bot scowled at the old warrior.

"She's not some con," another bot stated.

"Why don't you leave her alone?"

"She's not doing anything wrong."

"What is going on here?" Perceptor asked. "I simply want to know whether or not she's ok."

"You have to understand," a bot with orange and blue armor said. "It's thanks to her we're even standing here right now."

"You mean?"

"She kept us from making a huge mistake," the mini-bot from earlier noted. "So we're not about to let you stop her!"

"For the love of Primus," Kup stated. "Stop her from what? We just wanted ta make sure she didn't offline in the rain. What's the kid up to now?"

All of the bots remained silent. Until the bot from earlier spoke again. "She was fine when she left but that's all we can tell you."

Both Perceptor and Kup vented in partially frustration. It was clear they weren't going to get any useful information out of the crowd. "Thank you…"

"Tamper."

"Tamper. We'll be off then." They walked off and were pretty much back to square one.

"They probably would've been more cooperative if we bashed a few of their helms together."

"Somehow I doubt that. These bots were willing to offline this cycle. What could E.J. have told them to change their minds?"

"Somethin' tells me we're not goin' to like the answer very much."

~*~

Far away.

I had to sneak past a lot of bots and cameras but managed to reach my destination through a vent in the wall. "There we go!" I popped it off and put it back in place. "Hey there," I waved to the figure lying in the center of the room. "How you doin' Springer?"

I managed to climb up on one of the machines and hop on a table next to the birth. Looks like they'd replaced a lot of his banged up body or repaired it. "Oh neat. You got a new face! When did that happen?" He was still hooked up to a lot of stuff and had clearly seen better days but he was definitely better then what he was. "Sorry I haven't come to visit in a while. Percy's been distracting lately but you know. I can't keep him off me." I listened to the sounds the machine's made as he laid there quietly.

"Anyway I've been working on something lately," I pulled out the pad and took a seat. "Not too sure you'd approve or not but that hasn't stopped me before. Thought maybe I'd come read you some of it." I pulled it up to where I'd been reading when I'd dozed off. "I heard reading to people in comas is supposed to be good for them. Not sure if this counts as a coma but it couldn't hurt at this point. You did have your face ripped off."

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

I awoke to a headache and the sound of screaming. "Great day in the morning," I grumbled and looked around. I took in a few issues really quickly. One, I was chained up to a wall and couldn't move or activate my weapons to help me. Second, Springer, Impactor, and Twin Twist were all hooked into some sort of devices that kept them held down. Reminded me of a twisted dentist office.

"Ah," some con who I'd never seen before turned to me. It looked like he'd been messing with Springer. While holding a scalpel. "Looks like someone's finally up." He walked over to where I was hanging. "I've never seen an organic before. Your my first so you should consider yourself lucky." He poked the scalpel at my suit's helmet. "I wonder if you can scream as loud as a bot. You're just so tiny. I'll have to be careful or you won't last long."

"Stalker!" Impactor snarled at him. "You no good piece of scrap! I thought you enjoyed a challenge."

"Oh I do," this Stalker guy poked me again and I was thankful my suit held. "And she'll be a challenge unto herself."

"Touch her and again and it'll be the last thing you ever do," Springer spoke up.

"You bots sure do get worked up over such little things," he taunted. "I can't wait to see what you scream and yell at me as I rip her apart."

"Hello?" I said. "I have a name. It's E.J. or Eventron in some areas. But whatever."

"I'm Stalker," he smirked at me. Although I couldn't be too sure since he had one of those mouth guards. "You should know what name to cry out or beg for mercy to."

"Stalker? Not the worst name I've ever heard. But somethin's up here."

"E.J.," Springer stated. "Stop talking."

"Listen to 'em kid," Impactor said.

"No," Stalker told them. "Let her speak. This might be amusing."

"Well you're jumping right into the foreplay," I noted. "Not something I'm used to. You haven't taken me out for energon or anything. You're awfully straightforward. But if we're gonna do this you better make it good. I'll warn ya now though no one can compare to my bot. He came make me scream his name just by looking at me. Ahhhh."

They all just stared at me like I grew a second head. Then Stalker started laughing. The bots all seemed pretty freaked out by that. "I like you organic. You know what? I'm going to save you for last. You may not get any energon but at least you'll get a show."

I didn't say anything as he went back to torturing the guys. It wasn't a pretty sight but I couldn't look away. I guess it's like watching a train crash or something. Eventually Springer and Impactor passed out, but I think Impactor was faking it so the guy would leave him alone and I couldn't blame him. He saved poor Twin Twist for last.

He made sure the bot couldn't move just like the others but then used some type of clamp thing to keep his mouth open. He taunted him while holding the scalpel over him but the bot's mind seemed strangely elsewhere. "Not listening," Stalker repeated. "I said you're not **listening** , Twin Twist. It's time for you checkup. Now, open wide… And say your prayers."

"Ah! Ah!" Twin Twist was utterly helpless to do anything as Stalker began torturing him. " **AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEE**!" he screamed out in pain.

"Are you enjoying the show?" Stalker stopped at one point to ask me.

"E.J.," Twin Twist looked at me. "He-help m…me," he managed to get out. I'm not sure what he expected me to do. Even if I was as big and strong as Impactor or Springer I wouldn't have been able to help him.

"Hey, Twin Twist," I offered when Stalker got back to his work. "I know it hurts but try not to scream. It'll only get him off."

"Ignore her," Stalker told him. "By all means scream all you like."

"Aiiiiieeee."

**"Listen up listen up**

**There's a devil in the church**

**Got a bullet in the chamber**

**And this is gonna hurt**

**Let it out let it out**

**You can scream and you can shout**

**Keep your secrets in the shadows and you'll be sorry**

**Everybody's getting numb**

**Everybody's on the run**

**Listen up listen up**

**There's a devil in the church**

**Got a bullet in the chamber**

**And this is gonna hurt,"**

I couldn't help but sing. I wasn't sure if it was to comfort Twin Twist or myself.

~*~

Present Day.

"That reminds me," I looked up at Springer. "I forgot Fisitron's sixth rule. **Never** , ever show any sign of weakness. But you and me should know that by now. Along with Impactor wherever he is and Twin Twist on the other side. That Spark Extinction Chamber… Well I don't have to tell you."

" **This is gonna hurt** ," I sang into the quietness of the room.


	10. All Over the Place

Ultra Magnus' Ship.

"Are we there yet?"

"Not yet Verity," he replied.

"How much longer? I'm still not getting her."

"She could simply be busy. Or let her phone battery die," Ultra Magnus told her.

"Nu uh. You don't get it. E.J. always answer's her phone. One time she nearly electrocuted herself answering me when she was in the shower."

"That sounds like something she would do."

"Exactly."

"That message she sent you could have meant nothing and they are preoccupied now."

Verity wasn't buying it. Before her friend quite answering her phone she'd gotten a weird call from E.J. shortly after they were done collaborating the Last Stand of the Wreckers. It was questionable even for E.J. so Verity could still remember it clearly.

"Hey, Verity," she'd known something was up by the tone in her bud's voice.

"E.J. what's up? Percy not paying attention to you?" Her friend hadn't laughed at her joke or made a snide remark of her own. "Girl? Is he really? You want me to come give him a few dents?" Still nothing. "E.J.? You still there?"

"I'm writing something," she finally got.

"Writing what?"

"I can't tell you. I've already said too much as it is but I wanted to tell you at least something."

"You're kind of freaking me out, Eventron," Verity didn't like this at all. E.J. never kept secrets.

"I know Veritron, and I'm sorry. Look, keep what Fisitron gave you safe and I won't be able to call you for a while."

"Why? What's going on there? Do you need me to…"

"NO! Don't come to Cybertron Verity. I mean it. Stay away and don't call me anymore…. I'll call you when all of this is done. Just know I love ya and… Yeah. That's about it. Eventron, out."

"E.J.? E.J.!?' She'd tried calling her but there was no answer and she didn't know anyone else's comm number except for Magnus so she contacted him to learn what the hell was going on. He seemed in the dark as she was and hadn't been getting any answers from anyone. After a lot of arguing and threatening Verity managed to get Ultra Magnus to pick her up to take her to Cybertron.

The silence they were getting on the situation was creeping her out even more. Finally after about the twentieth time Magnus tried he got through to Kup. "What?!" the old warrior did not sound happy.

"Kup," Magnus was as monotone as ever. "I have been trying to contact you for over a cycle. What is going on?"

"I've… We've been busy," was the curt answer.

"Tell him I'm coming with you," Verity told him.

"Is that Verity?" Kup asked.

"Yes, she is here with me and we are traveling toward Cybertron now."

"Really… When will you two be here?"

"Within another cycle."

"Good we could use the help."

"What's going on?" Verity shouted to be heard. "Why can't we get ahold of anyone? How come E.J.'s not picking up her phone?"

"That's sorta the issue, kid."

"What happened?" Verity's tone took on a deadly edge. "Where is she? Answer me old man!"

"Calm down. This is exactly why we didn't want ta call ya back. E.J.'s missing and…"

Verity cut him off. "WHAT!? You were supposed to be watching out for her. Where's Perceptor? When I get my hands on him!"

"How long has she been missing?" Ultra Magnus spoke trying to tone Verity out.

"Only this cycle but we don't have any leads. It's not that big of a thing. We'll probably find her soon. Prowl's giving us enough grief as it is."

"You do know what happened the last time she traversed across Cybertron unescorted."

The line remained silent and Magnus thought that maybe the connection had been lost or Kup had hung up on him. "I know," came the answer. " _We_ all know."

~*~

On Cybertron.

I remembered from what Kup told us about how he and Guzzle made their way down to let Grimlock out of his cage. Kup kicked ass, they were a bit late, and meet Snarl in the process.

Verity told me how Percy told them what Aequitas did and why it was so huge. No one in the group was very happy about what they'd been sent there for. Topspin basically went into what looked like a seizure as he felt Twin Twist being brutally tortured on my end. Verity and Ironfist were to keep an eye on him while Pyro and Percy worked on the super computer.

"Crapballs!" I bolted upright as I felt my head bang off of the table I sat on. "Ow," I rubbed the sore spot. "Sorry, Springer. Looks like I dozed for a minute. So, where was I again?" I reopened the datapad to where I was. "Ok here we go."

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

"Uh," I heard Springer groan as he woke up. "Whu… Am I dead?"

"Not yet," I said from where I was still hanging.

"You wish," Impactor told him. "You went offline. You and Twin Twist. He's still out cold."

"Good thing," I stated.

"Where's Stalker?" Springer questioned.

"Our host went off to find something called an endoscopic claw. Sounds fun right?"

"It better not be a probe," I stated.

"I can't believe you stayed online," Springer told him and ignored me. "You impervious to torture or something?"

"No. I just got used to it."

"E.J.," he looked to me. "How you holding up?"

"I'm just peachy. Too bad I don't have popcorn."

"Good to hear," he turned back to face Impactor. "For what it's worth, I thought they'd send you to the rehab institute. Or one of the open prisons."

"After your testimony?! They plugged you into Aequitas and the first thing you said was, 'I saw him do it.' The Decepticons tried for hundreds of years to rip the Wreckers apart. You managed it in five words. And is it wise to bring this up in front of her?"

"Ignore me boys," I tried to move and failed. "I'm not here."

"E.J. knows how to keep her mouth shut," Springer said. "If you knew you'd be a target in G-9, why didn't you opt for spark extraction?"

"Because unless you're threat level nine, you only get that choice if you accept what you did was wrong."

"You mean you still don't?" Impactor didn't answer him. "Look, I hate myself for reporting you to high command. But if you still can't understand why I did it, it's no wonder you detest me."

"I never said I detested…"

"I want to forgive you, Impactor. Hell, I want to forgive myself. But I can't do either until you realize that what you did violated every tenet of the Autobot code."

"How can you…" came a gurgled voice from Twin Twist. "Argue… At a time like this?"

"How are you talking with only half a mouth?" I asked. He wasn't looking too good. He was missing an optic, most of his bottom jaw, and the rest of his face was either cut up or bleeding energon.

"That's funny, organic," we all turned to see Stalker had returned and he was holding this weird looking stick thing with hooks and points at both ends. "I was asking myself the same thing. Now, I really think it's time one of you died."

~*~

Present Day.

"Prowl's not calling us," Kup noted. "That's a good sign."

"Yes, but we still have no idea where E.J. could be. And as you informed me now Ultra Magnus and Verity are on their way here. Neither are going to be pleased about this."

"Yeah, I'll be surprised if Verity doesn't make Ultra Magnus crash his ship yelling at him to go faster…" He stopped for a moment and thought. "Hey, kid?"

"Yes?"

"When was the last time you and E.J. visited Springer?"

"At least twenty cycles ago." They shared a look and took off in the direction of the medical facility their comrade was currently being held in.

~*~

Elsewhere.

"We pretty much know what Stalker did to poor Twin Twist. He begged for him to stop but he just laughed and rammed that stick down Twin Twist's throat. That ass…" I stopped for a moment to rub my eyes. "At the same time Verity was told Ironfist's version of what happened to you guys on Pova. It was all 'Yeah we can do this!' and 'Teamwork' and 'We're all awesome and love each other' and 'Good will always triumph over evil.'" I paused a moment and couldn't help it as a chuckle came out. "Of course we both know how it really went down. But Verity and innocent Ironfist didn't. That story was why he joined the Wreckers to begin with."

I stopped when I heard commotion down the hall. "Oh shiznet. Looks like I gotta run. See ya around Springer," I hoped off the table and down to the floor with my stuff. "I hope you feel better soon and like the little gift I gave ya. Maybe next time I see you you'll actually be able to hear me. Bye!" I opened the vent, jumped in, and closed it. Then I made my way as fast as possible out of there.

~*~

Meanwhile.

They opened the door. "I'm sorry sir," a medical attendant said. "But no one has been here."

"Then who put this on him?" Kup looked over Springer and noticed a giant sparkling kitty sticker planted right on the side of Springer's arm.

"I…"

"It had to be E.J.," Percpetor stated.

"No one else would do it."

"We were correct but missed her once again." The scientist vented in frustration. "We are out of leads Kup."

"It ain't my fault your girlfriend ran off and is doing Primus knows what."

"She is not my…"

"Forget it. Standing here arguing isn't going to find her any sooner. Now, think Perceptor," he patted the bot's shoulders. "You've spent the most time with her out of any of us. Where does she like to go? And I don't mean the normal places the two of you go. Think. You know the answer."

Perceptor thought about it for a moment. They'd already been everywhere he and E.J. normally traveled or visited. The clinic had thrown him off but she'd also come to see Springer. He had no idea what she was up to… Wait. "I know where she's going next."

"Then let's get moving."

~*~

Elsewhere.

I bolted out of the clinic with everything I had and headed right for my favorite place. It was safer than being out in these allies at night. Even though the bots had won it didn't mean everything was perfect. Even for someone like me who knew the city it wasn't wise in some of the seedier places. Bots wouldn't hurt me but you could never tell with these neutrals running around.

I would've gone home… But I couldn't. Not until this was finished. In fact, I tried to write as I walked. It wasn't easy but I'm decent at multitasking.


	11. Ready?

Eight Months Ago.

Preceptor told everyone that in order to start Aequitas someone had to do a spark donation. They couldn't just give it a con because there was a suicide lock on the thing. Which meant someone had to do it willingly. It couldn't be my Percy because he was the only one who could operate it on his own. They didn't want Topspin to do it because then it would kill him and Twin Twist. Which left Pyro and Ironfist.

Pyro was a real ass and basically told Ironfist that he was still destined for great things. Verity told him off of course but Ironfist admitted that he was ready. Luckily for him, and the still being tortured Twin Twist, Topspin decided he'd had enough. Verity told me his last words were, "Wreck and rule." A true Wrecker 'till the end.

~*~

Back with my group.

Smoke came up out of Twin Twist as his spark went out. I think it was for the best. He couldn't take any more. "What the hell happened?" Stalker looked on. "I was just starting to get into that."

"I think we just witnessed an assisted suicide," Impactor told us.

"All right then," Stalker pulled out the torture stick and looked between the three of us. "So who's for Twin Twist's portion of sadism?"

"The first step is admitting you're into it," I noted.

"Hm," he looked at me.

"Don't you even," Impactor started.

"Oh don't worry. I'll save her for last." He turned to him with some sort of clamp in his hand. "You on the other hand are another matter entirely.

~*~

With Verity's group.

They were able to access Aequitas and see where we were. Also there was a hoard of cons outside the door waiting for them. Percy decided to download the computer info into Ironfist's head for safekeeping before he wiped the hard drive. I guess it hurt like a real bitch.

~*~

With my team.

Stalker held a scalpel to Impactor's optic. Both of them were being held open by these clamps. "I was going to save you for later," Stalker informed us. "But I just can't seem to help myself."

At that moment a shot hit the con straight in his side and sent him flying. "I take it all back, Snare," a familiar voice said from the door. "Looks like you were right on the money!" We all turned to see Kup, Guzzle, and some con there.

"Traitor!" Stalker yelled from his position. He shot and hit the con that was with the old man and the rookie. It looked like it got him in the side of his helm.

Kup got Springer lose and then got me and Impactor. "Springer," the old mech said. "Yer sprung."

Meanwhile, Stalker kept repeating, "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!"

"Take that con off rant mode, will ya?"

"My pleasure," Springer grabbed the torture stick. "And I know just where to find the off switch!" He jumped up, took that stick, and rammed it right through Stalker's brain.

"That was awesome," I said.

"You sacrificed yourself to save us," Impactor stood over the fallen con. "Why?"

"Overlord," Snare answered. "'Play…Makes…You free,' he… Said to us in the beginning… Turns out we were all… Playing his game…" Impactor kneeled down next to him. "Was the… Pit fights that did it… In the end. After 12 wins Overlord… Gave fighters a 'choice'. Fight him… Or commit suicide, you tell me… What's the difference?"

He stopped a second and I wondered if he could talk anymore. I suppose he could because he continued on as half his brain covered the floor. "G-9, this whole horror show… It's Overlord's attempt… To answer one question: What does it take… To get Megatron to intervene?"

"Megatron?"

"The fight Overlord's… Always wanted… But only on… His own terms..."

"Change of plan, Impactor," Springer spoke up. "We're going after Overlord."

"Yes," I cheered.

"Don't… Bother…" Snare got out. "He's heading… This way. Stalker… Radioed for help… Before you spiked him."

"We'll move you somewhere safe," Impactor offered.

"No time. Just… Just kill me. Quickly, before… He gets here. Please. At least… I know… That my death has-"

"Okay," Impactor crushed a part of his exposed brain and killed him.

"Now," Springer said as we all got ready. "What was that Decepticon saying about Overlord being on his w-"

Springer didn't get to finish the sentence as an explosion sounded directly behind us. It sent us flying and pretty much destroyed the wall behind us. An enormous bot stepped in through the gaping hole. I figured who the hell else would it be besides Overlord? "Ready?" he asked us.

"Ready," Springer answered him.

"This is gonna be fun," I smirked.

~*~

Present Day.

"I… Really… Hate… Stairs," I gasped out. Regular stairs were bad enough but you ever climb these kind of stairs? This place was modified with even mini-bots in mind but that didn't help me enormously. Thankfully, I was able to take the elevator up here but had to climb in order to reach my spot. I don't know why they even bother to put up that 'Keep out' tape when you can easily get past it.

I got lucky in that not many bots were out this late and even fewer there to see me sneak past everyone in order to reach my destination. Though that might have something to do with the fact the place was closed. I wasn't too worried. What was the worst that could happen if I got caught? Prowl come arrest me again? Whatever. Percy'd bail me out as soon as he got my call.

"Finally," I managed to move the already open door and get in my favorite room. I went to the end of the room. The entire wall was a panel of full length windows to look out. "Awesome," I looked out over the entire city. At night like this it was normally hard to see the stars because of all the lights on in the city and the renovations going happening day and night. But up here… You could see them as clearly as the city lights bellow. It might sound weird but it reminded me of an ocean. The sky above sometimes seemed to meld with the lights of the city. Making them both look like they, and the universe, went on forever.

I smiled as I sat down and held the datapad. "Almost done," I yawned. "Just gotta go on a little more."


	12. Regret Nothing

"The observatory?" Kup asked him. "You sure she'd go there?"

"Yes," Percpetor answered him. "One of her hobbies is astronomy and she has begged me to take her there since she got back to Cybertron."

"Then why haven't ya? You been that busy?"

"No. The entire building, and mainly the top decks E.J. enjoys so much, has been under construction. But that has not stopped her from breaking into it before."

"Beat Prowl's real happy about that."

"He informed me that the next time she does so he will not be lenient with her. I am afraid she will be in real trouble this time."

"Eh, she'll get out of it. She always does and there's no way Prowl would arrest her for good."

"I am not so certain, Kup."

"Then lets step on it."

~*~

Elsewhere.

While we were facing Overlord Ironfist was facing the truth of the Wreckers. Also, the entire group would soon be facing the cons ready to burst down their door. Percy noted how they could activate the chips stuck in all the ex-prisoners heads which would kill them instantly. But that also meant it would kill Impactor. So, they put it to a vote.

Percy voted yes, Pyro no, and Verity's vote didn't' count. Which left it up to Ironfist. Normally he'd say no without a second thought but after what he'd learned… Well, Verity told me what he said. "Everything's changed, Verity. **Everything**. Knowing what I know, I say do it…"

I bolted upright as my head slammed against the floor for the second time that night. "Aw," I rubbed it. "Come on, E.J. Stay awake," I slapped myself a little. "You can't quit now. Do it for them. You can do it."

I remember Overlord getting ahold of Guzzle and literally ripped him in half. Later on me and Verity would honor Fisitron's memory and put in what he wanted for the Last Stand of the Wreckers.

**Extracts from "Wreckers: Declassified," Datalog 332 by Fisitron. This is the story of the Wreckers' Last Stand. The story of ten soldiers and two stowaways who rode into the valley of death. Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them, volley'd and thunder'd. It's a story of sacrifice and betrayal, and of good people dying in stupid, pointless ways.**

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

**It's the story of the Decepticon who chose option 2, and paid for it with his sanity…**

"Oh don't look so surprised," Overlord told us. "You didn't expect this stunted little wretch to survive, did you?"

"You're a maniac!" Kup yelled at him.

"And you Wreckers are little more than a distraction," Overlord used Guzzle's parts to slam Kup in both sides of his helm. "At best, you're a starter before the main course."

He grunted in pain as Impactor used his hook and shot it in Overlord's optic. "You talk too much," Impactor told him.

**And of the Autobot who went too far.**

"Come here and say that," Overlord pulled out the hook and smiled at him. He was now missing one optic.

"I'm so scared," I mocked.

"You should be," Overlord told me.

~*~

With Verity.

**It's a story of a woman so terrified of being abandoned she risked her life to avoid it…**

Verity was the one who told them that if they killed Impactor then they'd kill the Wreckers, or at least what the Wreckers stand for. That it didn't matter what Impactor did back in the day. The fact is the Wrecker's Fisitron fell in love with would never kill one of their own to win a fight.

"You're right," Percy said. "We do this the old-fashioned way: we fight."

"No, we run."

**And of a second-stringer who spent his whole life planning the perfect death…**

"Well," Pyro shook as he said the words. "You run. I'll stay here, draw their fire… Keep 'em busy."

**Only to abandon his plans in favor of simply doing what had to be done.**

"It's not exactly Prime's fivefold maneuver, is it?" Ironfist asked him. "More to the point, you'll be slaughtered."

"Yeah. Well sometimes you just gotta do the decent thing, y'know?"

"All that stuff about 15-kiloton explosions?"

"I figure that dying to save people you care about is the most that anyone can do," he patted Ironfist on his shoulder.

"I think you have your motto."

"No… My last words. Oh, and Verity? I owe you an apology. I realize now that even Prime gets it wrong…" She paused and looked back at him. "You humans don't need us to look after you. It's the other way around."

Pyro distracted them as the others rode away with Fort Max. From what we were able to find later poor Pyro didn't last very long. In fact, we found him ripped apart.

**And at the heart of this story is someone who was lied to. Someone who wouldn't speak up. Someone who reneged on a deal.**

Ironfist told Verity about what really happened with Squadron X on Pova. Turns out it wasn't as happy and cheerful as he thought. Impactor did something he wasn't supposed to.

~*~

**And so the endgame was played out under a heartless sky, with the mighty Wreckers falling one by one.**

Kup, and Guzzle were clearly down. Overlord grabbed ahold of Springer while he stomped down on Impactor. I remember the sky being blood red. "Pick on someone your own size you glitch!" I charged at Overlord and managed to slice one of his legs. "I've had enough of you pest," tried to backhand me. He didn't make full contact but clipped me and sent me flying.

**Maybe some of them welcomed it.**

I landed face first and a piece of metal pierced the visor of my helmet. It went through and cut my face, in the pattern I would later find resembled an X. I held my breath and pulled it out. Before I activated the backup visor that came down and replaced the useless one. Blood partially got in my eye and blinded me. I was just thankful Percy knew enough to give me a backup visor. I never thought it'd be a good thing he saw me fall on my face.

"You think this is it, Overlord?" Springer asked him as the ex-con held him up. "You think you've won? My Wreckers are the best. They'll have freed the Autobot prisoners by now… And all of them will be heading this way, ready to feed you your fuselage."

"I doubt that very much," Overlord stated. "You see, shortly after I heard you Wreckers were on my patch, I gave a simple **order** : Kill. Every. Prisoner." I struggled to get back to my feet. Besides the blood in my vision I think I had some cracked ribs and my right arm hurt like hell.

~*~

Present Day.

I heard a noise and quickly hid the datapad in my pack. Even if I was quick enough there wasn't a way for me to make it out of here without passing whoever it was coming in. "Ah," I stood up and smiled when I saw who it was. "Hello Prowler, it's been a while."

"Evelyn Jason," he looked down at me. "You are under arrest. You are charged with breaking an entering…"

"Disturbing the peace, trespassing, and whatever else you want to throw at me." I finished for him. "I get it Prowler. You're pissed."

"My designation is Prowl."

"And mine's E.J. or Eventron but you never use those."

I could tell he fought not to vent over what I'd said. "Are you going to come silently or are you going to be difficult?"

"What do you think?" I smirked at him. "I just got one thing to say… I REGRET NOTHING!" I called out and tried to take off.

~*~

A short time later.

"No fair," I moped in the backseat as he drove.

"You brought this upon yourself," he told me. "I have warned you repeatedly what your actions would entail."

"Yeah, yeah. At least I had fun doing it."

"Be thankful I do not have a pair of cuffs that would fit you."

"Getting kinky now? You may want to give my Percy a few tips. Now that would be entertaining."

"You understand you have the right to remain silent."

"You understand that's not even an option for me," I smiled rocking back and forth slightly. "How long 'till we get there?" He didn't answer me. "Oh never mind," I saw we were basically there already. "Gotta say I didn't miss this place."


	13. Hell and Back

Perceptor and Kup got the call just as they arrived at the observatory. "Heya, Percy," she singsonged into his comm.

"E.J.," he half said in relief. He wasn't ecstatic she was calling him while being incarcerate but at least he knew she was safe.

"You've had us running all over this damn city," Kup told her.

"Sorry 'bout that old bot. I just had a few errands to run. Opps I gotta go. Prowler wants to talk to you two. So bye bye boys!"

"Let me guess, she broke into the observatory again," was the first thing Perceptor said.

"Yes. I upgraded the security there from the last incident. You understand what I relayed to you what would happen to her if this occurred again."

"Just tell us when to pick her up," Kup said. "It's been a long day for all of us."

"I'm afraid that's not an option," came Prowl's steady voice over the line.

"What do you mean it's not an option?" Perceptor asked him.

"You of all bots should know I do not break my word."

"Come off it Prowl," Kup spoke up. "You've freaked her out enough with the threat now let us come get her so we can have it out."

"I'm afraid you will not be able to visit her until I can process her case." Perceptor and Kup shared a look.

"You've got to be kidding," the old mech stated.

"I am not. Perceptor I warned you that her being human would not give her leniency to continuously break our laws."

"I assure you I am the one responsible," Perceptor said. "As her guardian it is my duty to look after her. If you are to blame anyone then blame me."

"I partially do. However, E.J. is not some animal and has sentience of her own. She knows what she did was wrong and continued to do it without regard. She had ample opportunities to correct herself and has been warned numerous times. This time she will learn our laws are not trivial matters to be laughed at."

"Prowl," Kup started but the connection was cut. "Well this is great."

"Perceptor, Kup," they both heard. "This is Ultra Magnus. I have called to inform you both myself and Verity have arrived on Cybertron. Waiting for a randevu point."

"And it just got better."

~*~

Elsewhere.

"Did you redecorate in here or something?" I asked Prowl as he carried me. "It seems more bland than I remember." He took my things and put it on a desk across from some cells. "Aw there's my favorite cell." He unlocked it and I noticed there was a bot already in there. The bot stayed in his side of the cell as Prowl put me on the floor.

"Do not think of escaping," he put a chain on my ankle that was tied to the wall. "Your case will be processed within two to three cycles."

"Ha ha," I laughed. "Very funny. You can cut it out Prowler I get it. I swear I won't break into anything again… And well I'm not too sure what else I've done wrong today."

"What else?" I noticed the other bot in the cell actually cringed at the serious tone Prowler's voice took. "You ran off on your own, a situation you know is not allowed to occur. Then did not inform any in your immediate party of where you were or what you were doing. Both Kup and Perceptor have been running around all day searching for you. Yet you have shown no regard for them, our laws, or any principle in general."

I tilted my head at him. "Did you not get enough recharge or something Prowler? You seem a little cranky?"

"For the last time… My designation is Prowl not Prowler. Until this point I have attempted to be civil with you even though I should have thrown protocol out the window. Over the span of time you've resided here on Cybertron you've broken into at least twenty buildings or restricted zones we know of, you've started three riots, stolen ten energon crystals and thirty datapads, physically assaulted two bots, performed graffiti on forty buildings, resisted arrest five separate occasions, verbally berated an officer of the law, and stalked one bot I know of. And this might not even be all of your felonies simply what I am currently aware of."

I scratched the back of my neck. "I think you need to chill out dude. Just wait 'till Percy and the old man get here…"

"I've already informed them of your situation," he closed the cell. "They understand you are going to be treated as a Cybertronian would. That is what you've always wanted isn't it? That's why you've fixated yourself to the Wreckers like a parasite. I'm not sure why they've put up with you this long. You are nothing but a nuisance as far as I am concerned. Always causing trouble and you never once apologized for it. Well no more." He started to walk away but turned back. "I would not be surprised Evelyn Jason if no one comes for you this time. You must understand somewhere in that defective processor of yours that they are better off without you."

I stood there for a second and listened to his footsteps as they retreated down the hall. Eventually he opened and closed another door before I couldn't hear him anymore. "Wow," the old bot in the cell with me eventually said. "I've never seen him like that. You okay kid?" he looked down at me.

"Yeah…" I felt something clench in my chest before I burst out laughing.

"What's going on?" a voice said from the cell next to ours called out.

"I'm not sure," the old bot told him.

"So-sorry," I stammered out. "It's just I finally did it. I finally got old Prowler to lose his temper with me. What a riot!" I continued laughing for a few more moments before I finally settled down. "Sorry you guys had to be around for that."

"You're not upset over that?" the mysterious voice from the other side of the cell wall asked.

"Nah. It takes more than a few words to get to me. So what are you guys in for?"

"Vandalism," the mystery voice said. "All I wanted to do was leave my mark on one of their precious new buildings. They didn't take it too well."

"I hear ya man. What about you old bot? What's your story?"

"I stole some energon. And I ain't old kid," he plopped down on the cell's berth.

"You are compared to me."

"Everyone's old compared to you."

"You're witty. At least you didn't lose that in your old age."

"Is what he said really true?" the voice asked. "You really did all that stuff?"

"That's only half of what I've done. He just doesn't know the rest." I went to the end of the cell where the chain ran out. I stopped right before the bars. I knew Prowl only put that chain on me because I've been known to try and jump in between these energized bars before. "If he knew what I was up to now he'd really blow his top." I glanced over and saw my datapad on the desk. "Sorry to involve you guys but I got a project to finish. Hey! Datapad!"

The screen flickered on. "Voice activation required," came a monotone voice from it.

"What are you doing?" mystery voice inquired.

"Shh. You'll figure it out in a sec. Password: Percy loves me!" I yelled.

"Password accepted. User E.J. a.k.a. Eventron."

"Holy Primus! You're Eventron!"

"Sure am mystery bot I can't see."

"My name's Gluer! I can't believe I'm meeting one of the Garrus-9 survivors."

"Nice hearing your voice, Gluer."

"What ya up to?" the old bot asked.

"Telling my side of what happened in the Last Stand of the Wreckers," I answered. "There's a few behind-the-scenes things and my take on the sitch. By the way what's your name since we're playing 'who the hell are you'?"

"The name's Rumbler. And how do you plan on doin' anything in this cell?"

"I've been writing my side of things for a while. I just gotta finish it up. And since I'm in here and not out there I'm gonna have to do this. Datapad: open file name N and go to last page."

"Acknowledged."

"I can't write but I installed this feature that'll jaunt down what I saw. Looks like you guys are in for a story."

"This is so cool!" Gluer stated.

"Not like I got anythin' better to do," Rumbler sat back.

"Nice. Datapad: operation secretary."

"Understood. Speak when ready."

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

**But even then, among the twitching cadavers and the hum of shattered circuitry, among the fields of failed and fading sparks-even then-something stirred…**

There was a shot and it got Overlord right in his wrist. He let out a grunt of pain as he dropped Springer. "Hm?"

**Hope.**

"Hells yeah!" I cheered seeing Percy, Verity, and Ironfist. The last holding one heck of a gun. "Springer!" he called. "Catch!" he threw the weapon at him.

"Sweet," Springer said as he caught it. "Wreck and rule…" He opened fire on Overlord. **"YOU SON OF A GLITCH!"**

It didn't seem to be enough though because Overlord still reached him. "That…" He stood right in front of the empty gun smoking. "Is…" He pulled his hand and wiped it across Springer's face. "ENOUGH!" I saw an optic go flying and Overlord literally held Springer's face plate in his hand. "Sweet."

"E.J.," Percy told me as I got around Overlord to join them. "Stay with the others."

He charged Overlord all on his own. "And you can keep out of this you gun-fondling-battle-stat." Overlord fired and hit him and knocked him aside like nothing.

"PERCY!" I screamed and Verity held me back.

**The Wreckers were split, smashed, squashed, slashed, shot…**

**Until all had become just one.**

"As for you," He looked down at Ironfist, me, and Verity. "And all that business of 'Catch' business. I'm going to eviscerate you. Oh yes. I'm going to turn you inside out and scrap you clean."

"Don't come any closer! I'm warning you!" Ironfist told him shielding the two of us.

"You're warning me?" Overlord smirked.

"It'll be more than a warning you aft!" Verity held onto me. "You'll pay for what you did to my Percy!"

"You'll join him soon enough," he told me.

"Think!" Ironfist got his attention. "Don't you feel any different? No internal injuries? Why not try scanning for foreign bodies? See, Springer wasn't shooting you, he was injecting you. Which means that right now, right this second, thousands of deterrence chips are laying down roots in your endoskeleton."

"So? You have no means of detonating them."

"Wrong. I've got the whole of Aequitas in my head, including the trigger codes. And now I've worked out how to hone the signal and lock onto a specific target. All I need to do is give the nod and…" He nodded and Overlord basically exploded. **"Bang."**

"Wow," I noted.

"ARRGH!" Ironfist cried out in pain. "My head!"

"Ironfist!" Verity yelled. Ironfist went down hard. "Not you too…" she ran to his side and I joined her. "Not you too."

"Ah fuck, what are we gonna do?" I asked.

"You, little ones, should worry more about yourselves," a voice said behind us and we looked. Only to see freaking Overlord come rising up. He was all tore up, was missing his face, and oh yeah he was fucking on fire! "Look at the two of you. All brittle bones and ligaments and red, red ventricles, so sticky-soft and bendable… I wonder what sound you'll make when I pop your seams?" He loomed over us. "You and your dead friends have ruined everything. What would happen if he was to arrive now? How could I best Megatron when I am reduced to this?"

I looked at Verity for a second before I burst out laughing. "Old Meggie's out of the picture moron!"

"Megatron?" Verity backed me up. "You've been out of circulation for too long, pal. Megatron's dead."

"No," he paused. "You're lying!"

"Uh-uh," Verity went on. "Maybe if you got out more you'd have heard the news: someone beat you to it! Oh, man this is perfect! You can't accept that he never gave chase! You lived your life thinking about him every day, and he died forgetting all about you!"

"Too bad I don't have a camera Verity," I added. "We've officially met the most incompetent being in the whole universe! And people call me the freaky stalker."

"But…" Overlord fell to his knees. "But he owes me! He owes me." A shot came out of nowhere and hit him right in his chest. "Uh."

"Pal," we looked over and saw Impactor was alive. "We **all** owe you. And you're still talking too much." He transformed and flung himself at the fallen ex-con. "One way or another you've killed a lot of my friends today. It's been a long time coming, but this is where you get yours."

"Finish him off, Impactor!" Verity cheered. "Kill him!"

"Rip his head off!" I yelled.

"Fight back," Impactor told him as he pummeled him. "Damn you! Fight back!" He looked over and saw a sharp piece of metal. "No? Then at least look at me. I want you to see this coming." He held it up and Overlord finally looked at him. Although I'm not sure how he saw anything as his optics were burning too.

"Go on then. Do it," he told him. "Have your fun."

"Oh, I'm not doing this for **me** …" He brought the metal down but put it right next to Overlord's helm. "I'm doing it for Springer. You've killed Springer," Impactor bent down to tell him. "And you deserve to die. But he wouldn't have wanted that. So you're going to stand trial, just like I did. And you're going to go down… Because, like me, you're guilty as hell." He then turned to us. "Stay here while I radio for pickup. Don't worry about Overlord, I've disabled his neural cluster. He's not going anywhere."

"What about the other Decepticons?" Verity asked.

"They're not interested in us, not anymore. They'll be off this rock before you can say 'post-traumatic stress disorder'."

"You're just lucky…" I went over and whispered to Overlord. "That I want to see you rot in a cell before the bots pull your plug." I kicked him and went off to see Percy. "My Percy!" I ran over and checked him over.

**This has been a story about the Wreckers. And impossible odds. And weird brain bullets.**

"Uhhhr," I glanced over and saw Ironfist sit up. "What did I miss?"

**And survivors.**

"I'll tell you on the way home," Verity said.


	14. Bang

Present Day.

"Kid?" I heard someone say above me. I couldn't see anything except darkness.

"Eventron?"

"Hey, kid. You alright? Can ya hear me?"

I forced myself to open my eyes. "Huh?" I saw the old bot above me. "Wha… What happened?"

"Is she alright?" Gluer called from his cell.

"I'm fine," I managed. "Now can ya tell me what happened?"

"Easy there," Rumbler helped me sit up. "You were talking and then…"

"You stopped midsentence!" Gluer said.

"Then you fell into recharge on your pedes. If I had slower joints you would've fell right into the bars."

"Wouldn't be the first time but thanks anyway old mech. I owe ya."

"Mind tellin' us what that was about?"

"I've been up a while. Nothing I can't fix." I stood up and he held out his servo as I swayed back and forth.

"Then why don't you recharge youngin?"

"I can't. Not yet. I have to finish this."

"But I thought that was the end," Gluer said.

"Hehe," I managed to stand on my own. "Not quit. Sit back and let me finish the story."

~*~

Elsewhere.

"You've got to be shitting me," Verity said as she road in Ultra Magnus and they traveled to Prowl's precinct. "How could you let E.J. get arrested?"

"How come she didn't go back to Earth with you kid?" Kup asked.

"She said she wanted to stay here. I can't tell her what to do. All I know is I get this weird call, she starts acting strange even by her standards, and the next thing I know you all tell me she's been locked up."

"Any theories on what she might be up to?" Ultra Magnus questioned Perceptor.

"Afraid not. She's been cryptic about this entire ordeal. I'm afraid the only way we'll get any answers is to confront her directly."

"Not going to be easy now that she's in jail," Verity pointed out.

"You really think Prowl would want to keep her more than one night?" Kup stated.

~*~

"Good point."

Meanwhile.

"Time to start wrapping this up. So Springer's on life support, though he was looking better when I saw him. Topspin, Twin Twist, Rotorstorm, and Pyro all died horribly on Garrus-9. Impactor and Guzzle took off after Overlord was taken into custody. I heard Impactor was pardoned. Ironfist ate it by some stupid mechanical aneurism on the trip to Earth. I felt bad for Verity, she really liked him and even cried. She hoped off on Earth while I road back here to Cybertron. That was when I happened to overhear an interesting conversation between Uncle Magnus and Prowler. They didn't know I was listening at the door…"

~*~

Eight Months Ago.

I was just passing by Prowler's office when I heard something noteworthy. "And judging by the look on your face, so did you," Uncle Maggie stated.

"Ironfist and I," Prowl started. "We had an agreement."

"The suicide lock?"

"I thought I was giving him what he wanted. And before you ask, yes, of course regret it."

"I have to ask… You were against the Aequitas trials in the first place… Why did you even sanction the mission?"

"Can you imagine if the Decepticons had beaten us to Aequitas? The trial transcripts on its hard drive would have made the ultimate propaganda weapon."

"Most of those who gave evidence are dead now. Seems like most of us are these days. Without the transcripts it would be impossible to see the trails through."

"I only hope never to see the inside of that chamber again…" I'd never heard Prowl that down. "Autobot after Autobot, atrocity after atrocity. I listened to accounts of morphcore harvests, civilian executions, rust injections… It nearly killed me. Chief Justice Tyrest has agreed to keep the trials secret until the last verdict has been reached. After that it's full disclosure. But what price a clear conscience?"

"You tell me," Ultra Magnus told him. " **There**. One dataslug containing everything that was on Aequitas. Ironfist's legacy."

"Nothing was corrupted during the data transfer, I take it?" Prowl asked.

"You'd need to check. I don't have the stomach for it right now."

"No. No, of course not… But this is the only copy?"

"Yes. Ironfist didn't have time to make any more before he died. Look, I know you think going public with the trials will rip the Autobots apart, but it's the only way."

"Is it? Justice must be seen to be done… But now? When the rank-and-file hear about the monsters that were in their midst, it'll feel like yet more betrayal. Anyway, enough chatter. Leave this with me, I'll make sure Bumblebee gets it."

I had to hide as Ultra Magnus opened the office door. "I hope so, Prowl, because I know what you're thinking: if the data on that slug did turn out to be corrupted, you could just destroy it and move on, and no one would be the wiser. Perhaps I should have checked it before giving it to you but that would have done us both a disservice."

People always think I'm a goofball or that I'm stupid. Maybe they're right but there is one thing I know I am. Observant. I saw and remember everything that happened to me and those around me on Garrus-9.

**Maybe Garrus-9 marks the end of the road for the Wreckers. After all there has to be a limit. Mission after mission, fatality after fatality… Surely everything-everyone-has a breaking point… it's just a question of how much pressure is applied.**

I heard a crack come from the office. I wasn't sure if Prowl destroyed the slug or not. Not like I could poke my head in and ask.

**But maybe this isn't the end of the road, maybe it's a stop-off, a moment to reflect before moving on. Because that's how we honor those we've lost: by looking forward, not back.**

Shortly after that I got in contact with Verity and we coworked on the Last Stand of the Wreckers. We put it under Fisitron's name, not ours, but I think a lot of people figured it out who wrote it. Prowl wasn't happy about it but it's not like we put his little conversation with Ultra Magnus in there. I didn't get to put in the Necrobot thing either because we didn't want to draw focus away from the story.

**You see, this is one of those stories with a moral. And the moral is this: life persists.**

~*~

Present Day.

"But that wasn't all. I snuck a look at the deceased personal files. Found some real interesting bits in there but I'm not going to talk about it… I don't know it seems disrespectful to their memories." I stopped for a second to collect my thoughts. "Huh. I can't believe I'm almost done with this."

"Do yak know kid?" Rumbler asked me.

"Know what?"

"If Prowl really destroyed that slug or not."

"Tehe," I giggled. "You see old mech… The funny thing is Ironfist a.k.a. Fisitron is famous for all the weapons he's made and the recordings he did on the Wreckers… Well he's got one more surprise in store. Techies always back-up right? In the words of a friend of mine, 'Save the data, save the world.' There's one more bullet in the chamber old Fisitron left us." I made a gun using my hand and pointed it at the cell bars. "Bang."

"You mean?"

"Yeep. It's safe where no one will find it unless shit really hits the fan."

"I don't believe it," Gluer stated.

"Well, it all happened. Oh I almost forgot I should probably put in an epilogue or something to this thing. After all the whole title is I Saw the Necrobot. If I don't say when and where I saw him people are gonna be pissed."

"You saw the Necrobot?!" Gluer screamed.

"I did."

"He ain't real kid," Rumbler vented. "He's just a myth like the shimmer and such. You probably just saw a regular bot or somethin'. Maybe a neutral."

"Let her tell it! Let her tell it!" Gluer chanted.

"Alright, so here it is."

~*~

Eight Months Ago, Ultra Magnus' Ship.

"I'll give you some privacy," I gently told Verity giving her a pat on the back. Ironfist was dead on the floor and Verity had been crying for at least an hour. I held her and comforted her until she settled down.

"Ok," she said. I knew she needed to be alone for a bit. I'd come back soon to check on her.

I headed out into the hallway. I wasn't too sure what to do with myself. I didn't feel up to bugging anyone, Percy was busy, and I didn't have anything to keep me preoccupied. I decided maybe I'd go to the hanger and tell the rest of the boys goodbye.

It was when I turned a corner I saw him. I stopped dead and my brain did a small reboot. I didn't recognize this bot and there was no physical way some stranger could be on Uncle Maggie's ship. I would've sounded the alarm but he didn't look like a con to me. Heck, I didn't even get a dangerous vibe from this guy and I had good instincts.

There's not much to say about his appearance. He was red and silver from the back. **(If you want a better picture please just look up transformers Necrobot.)** He stopped walking and slowly turned to where I stood. As if he knew I was there the entire time. I saw half closed blue optics. They seemed to bore right into me and I could have sworn it was as if he already knew who I was. I saw instead of normal chest armor there was a hole that went directly into his spark. I could see the light even from my position. Risky thing doing that but by the way he held himself he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

I noticed he held a datapad but that was more of an afterthought. "You're…" I started. I'd been around bots long enough to have heard rumors. "The Necrobot…" I don't know how but I just knew that was who I saw starring at. His optics met my eyes and he didn't say anything.

We stared at each other for I have no idea how long. Slowly he nodded, as if we were old friends and I could decipher the gesture, before he turned and continued on his way. "Wait," I got my feet to work and I followed him. He wasn't moving fast but he turned a corner. When I caught up I screeched to a halt. There was no one in the hallway. He had just disappeared. The Necrobot was just gone…

I didn't want to ruin her grieving but I didn't know who else to turn to. "Verity!" I yelled and ran down the hallway to where she was.

~*~

Present Day.

"I told Verity first because I knew she was the only one who'd believe me. She did. We went and told the others but they said it was impossible. Uncle Magnus humored me and checked all of the cameras but nothing showed up in that hallway but me. Even my own Percy didn't believe me… Well, that's pretty much it. I've been here on Cybertron and living with Percy ever since." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "I started this not long ago. I'm not sure why exactly. Guess I couldn't let some things go."

"I still don't believe it," the old mech sat on the berth. "Sorry kid but maybe your optics were playin' tricks on ya."

"I believe you, Eventron!" Gluer called.

"Thanks Glue," I swayed a little and fell to my knees.

"Kid?!" Rumbler bent over and put one of his servos behind me. "Why don't ya recharge? Ya told yer story. Now you can rest."

"Not yet… Not just yet…"

"What are you waitin' for?" Right as he asked that the lights flickered and it got noticeably darker in the cells. "What's goin' on?"

"Is it an outage?" Gluer questioned.

I looked up and heard familiar footsteps coming toward us. "You say you don't believe in the Necrobot? Well, you will."


	15. Gone

"What the?' Verity asked as they pulled up to the precinct. There was a large crowd outside of it. Bots of all shapes and sizes and all of them were chanting one thing. "Free Eventron! Free E.J.!" All of the bots transformed and Verity stood there.

"Kup," Perceptor stated. "Does this crowd look familiar to you?"

"Wasn't this the same one that was outside the clinic?"

"I believe so but what are they doing here?"

"Apparently, they want to free E.J.," Verity said. "I didn't know she was so popular here."

"Neither did we kid," Kup told her as they attempted to make their way through the crowd. It was then the bots noticed them.

"It's Perceptor!"

"And Kup!"

"Is that Ultra Magnus?"

"I think the organic's Veritron!"

"Her name's Verity!"

"They must be here to free Eventron!"

Somehow they managed to maneuver their way through. "Please," a mini-bot stopped them. "You have to save her!"

"Tamper," Perceptor picked out the one bot he knew. "What is going on out here?"

"We're here to petition E.J.'s release," he answered. "One way or the other we can't let them stop her work."

"What's she working on?" Verity spoke up.

"You must be Verity," he looked down at her. "You're just like Eventron described you."

"She told you about me?"

"She told us about all of you," the mini-bot spoke up.

"Can we please stay on topic?" Perceptor inquired. "How do you plan on getting her released? Are you all going to stay out here until Prowl arrests you as well?"

"He'll do it too," Kup told them.

"I suggest you all go through the proper channels," Ultra Magnus stated.

"We'll get her out if you won't!" someone shouted.

"One way or the other!" someone added.

"We'll wait here while you try it your way," Tamper told them. "However… You may want to be quick about it."

"We won't wait all night," someone nearly growled out.

"Prowl's really in for it this time," Verity said as they made it inside.

"Prowl!" Kup yelled. "Get your aft out here!"

Not two seconds later he appeared. "You don't have to shout. I see you made your way past the mob outside."

"They are not a mob," Perceptor informed him.

"Not yet," Kup finished. "But they will be if you don't hand over E.J."

"I told you I cannot do that. She-"

"Cut the crap," Verity said. "You've let her go before. What's the difference now? Besides the fact there's a crowd of bots outside ready to storm this place."

"Not this time. She has to learn our laws cannot be ignored."

"Then don't ignore them," Ultra Magnus said. "However, you could file this under extenuating circumstances."

"Yeah!" Verity back him up. "Hand her over to Perceptor and put her under house arrest or something. Or parole."

"You know as well as I do she will ignore any limitations I place on her. She will end up in this exact same situation in less than two cycles."

"No she will not," Perceptor's voice got steely. "I will watch her."

"Like you have before?"

"We all will," Kup spoke up. "Hell we'll take shifts if we have to. Whatever yer gonna do Prowl do it fast. Cause there's going to be another riot on yer hands tonight if you don't."

"You really want that?" Verity asked.

"I do not believe you are equipped with enough cuffs and cells to handle the number of protestors on your doorstep," Magnus informed him.

"I will call in backup if it is required," Prowl replied.

"Your pride is one thing," Kup stated. "But this is going to get ugly quick. I can't say I'll do much if it does."

"I doubt Bumblebee will care for this sort of situation if it were brought to his attention," Perceptor brought up.

Prowl gave him a long hard look. "He understands my position on such matters."

"Not if a fights starts because you wouldn't let one little human out," Verity said. "What'd she do that was so bad this time? Huh? Make fun of your paint?"

Prowl didn't say anything but glared at her. Ultra Magnus stepped up. "I understand E.J. is rather… Irritating to say the least. However, Bumblebee would be more displeased because of the unrest occurring due to this. She could still receive a proper punishment for her actions. Just not here."

Prowl had a mini staring competition with all of them. They could hear his vents from where they all stood as he sighed. Right before he could speak though the lights flickered and they heard screaming from the cell area.

~*~

Without being told they all followed Prowl back as he went to investigate. Kup scooped up Verity so she wouldn't be left behind. They came upon the back cells and found two different bots sitting in two of them. The younger one was crouched behind the berth saying, "I knew it. I knew it."

The older mech in the other cell grabbed at his chest like his spark was going to come out of his chestplate. Prowl ignored him and unlocked the cell. He stepped in but there was no human there. The chain he'd used on her was still locked… But she wasn't in it.

"Where is she?" Prowl asked the old mech. The mech didn't reply but vented and kept staring at the far wall as if he was seeing the shimmer. "Where," Prowl grabbed the mech. "IS SHE?!"

"Prowl," Perceptor grabbed ahold of him. "Stop this."

"It is not acceptable," Ultra Magnus helped the scientist.

"I have to know where she is," Prowl let go of the mech and shrugged the two of them off.

"Can you tell us where the human is?" Kup asked him more nicely and put a servo on his shoulder.

"You alright man?" Verity inquired seeing the terrified look in his optics.

"I-it… I thought it was only a story…. Somethin' to frighten' the younger bots…"

"What are you talking about?" Prowl questioned.

"I saw him… We both did," the old bot shook a little and they had to wait a full minute before he settled down. "It… He came for her… He took the little femme right out of this cell… There was nothin' I could do…"

"Who?" Perceptor was the one asking this time. "Who took. E.J.?"

"I-i-it…" The shaking started again and this time the bot couldn't stop.

"Who?!" Perceptor's voice actually rose.

**"THE NECROBOT!"** the younger bot from the other cell practically screamed. "She told us he was real. Rumbler didn't believe it but I did… She told us about when she saw him… And then he came in here…"

~*~

A Short Time Ago.

It was deathly quiet as the bots and human watched the strange bot come into the room. He barely made a sound as he walked gracefully across the floor. Gluer and Rumbler both stared in awe. Something about this bot was off. They couldn't tell what it was but they felt it clear down in their sparks.

The bot ignored them and walked straight to the cell E.J. was in. She looked up at him from where the old mech held her in his servo. "Hi," she smiled at him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

The bars flickered for a moment before they completely disappeared. The Necrobot took a step forward and the old mech flinched back. However, E.J. couldn't go anywhere because of the chain. "It's ok," she patted the old mech's hand. "You can put me down. Looks like an old friend came to pick me up."

"B-but…"

Rumbler couldn't say anything as the other bot's hand stretched out. His spark froze as the stranger bot nearly touched him. Instead, he tapped the chain holding E.J. It released her and she looked up at him. Then, she stepped into his outstretched hand.

The old mech stood there practically frozen as the Necrobot took the human and excited the cell. He stared at her with half closed optics and Rumbler could have sworn they were having a private conversation even as no words were said. The bars reformed and the lights started to return to normal. E.J. looked back at him one last time.

"Bye Rumbler, bye Gluer. It was nice meeting you guys. I won't be back so you guys will have to look after my things for me. Could you give them to my friends when they get here? Thanks for listening," she waved as the Necrobot carried her off.

~*~

Present.

"He took her!" Gluer finished nearly in hysterics at this point. "E.J.'s gone… She's gone! She was right and now she's gone!"

"Holy shit," Verity ran a hand through her hair. "What are you dolts waiting for?" she looked around. "We have to go after her! Even if it means we have to kill the Necrobot!"


	16. Not Done Yet

"Do those cameras work?" Perceptor asked Prowl.

"They do," they followed him to a back room with multiple screens. He pressed a few buttons and images appeared. They saw E.J. still in the cell. Then the images grew blurred and were filled with static. They could just make out E.J. and the other bots but not what or who they were looking at. E.J.'s form disappeared in the gargles image as well right when she was taken from the old mech. A few moments later things returned to normal with the exception of E.J. not being there. Then they appeared on screen.

"That doesn't give us anything!" Verity exclaimed.

"We do not even know which way he mighta gone," Kup stated.

"I doubt he went out the front with the not-so-happy mob," Verity said. "But we can always check."

"Very well," Prowl stated.

But when they got out front the mob was still there and they hadn't seen a thing. "You mean she's been kidnapped?!" more than one bot yelled.

"Yeah and we gotta get her back," Verity told them.

"What are you doing?" Prowl asked her.

"Look, Necrobot or not someone took off with E.J. The more bots we got looking for her the better. Besides it's better they're doing this than beating down your door."

"She has a point." Ultra Magnus spoke.

"Multiple teams would yield better results," Perceptor concurred.

"Alright," Kup stated. "Everyone spilt into teams and move on out."

Prowl went with Ultra Magnus while Verity got in Kup and joined Perceptor. Everyone else made their own little groups and they moved out in a circular pattern.

~*~

Nearby.

I couldn't help but yawn as he walked. "Nice night," I commented. "Beat it'll be dawn soon…" He didn't say anything but looked down at me for a moment. I noticed he held a datapad in his other servo like before. "That where you keep your list?" I inquired. He didn't have to say anything but nodded. "Oh… Guess everyone's name's on there that died right? At least that's what I heard. Course you can't always believe the rumors no matter how interesting."

I leaned against his hand a bit. I was just so damn tired. "Wonder… Where the others are. Or if they'll even miss me…" I fought to keep my eyes open as long as possible. "I know old Prowler was right. I'm a pain in the aft to put it simply. I don't have an excuse as to why I do half the crap I do. I just do it. Not like I'm mean or anything… I like havin' fun is all. You probably hear shit like this all the time and don't want to hear my ramblings."

He stopped for a second. He still didn't speak but I could read him pretty well for some reason. "You don't mind? Gotta admit it's nice to talk to someone openly for once. Primus I miss Verity. Too bad I won't be able to say goodbye."

~*~

Elsewhere.

"I swear if he's touched one hair on her head I'll rip his spark out myself," Verity informed Kup.

"Ease up there kid," he said. "That'll be Perceptor and Prowl's job when we find this bot." They sat in silence for a time and there was no information from the comms. "Hey, kid."

"Yeah?"

"I never got around to it but I was wondering something."

"What is it?"

"Back on G-9 when you two snuck into the pods. Why did you go with Perceptor's group and E.J. come with us? She's always up his aft so why didn't she want to go with him?"

"Oh. You could've asked E.J. this and she would've told you. But she won't care if I do it." Verity shifted a little in her seat. "The fact is I wondered that myself. As E.J. put it, 'I love Percy and everything but you need to look after him for me like I know he'll look out for you. I'd go myself but if I did that then we'd both be distracted. I don't want to be the reason why we get killed.' That's what she told me anyway."

"We have a sighting!" someone yelled through the frequency.

"Where?" Prowl and Perceptor asked at the same time.

"By the observatory!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Kup vented.

"Why would this bot take her there?" Verity asked.

"No idea," Kup sped up as Perceptor started leaving him behind. "All I know is someone's gonna burn off his rubber if he doesn't slow down!"

Perceptor didn't answer him but kept on at his top speed. "Hey, Kup?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"You ever think E.J. and Perceptor's relationship isn't so one-sided?"

"Can't say for sure anymore. Maybe not how she sees it but something tells me the scientist ain't as coldsparked as he lets on when it comes to her."

Suddenly, Perceptor was forced to break and Kup did the same so he wouldn't run into him. Turns out Prowl and Ultra Magnus had crossed their paths. "Where is she?" the scientist asked transforming.

"The report stated this was near the location," Prowl answered him.

"THERE!" Verity pointed to a bridge nearby. It was above them so it wasn't like they could just run over.

They saw E.J. alright. She was being held in the servo of a bot none of them had ever seen before. Verity wasn't Cybertronian but even she was getting a weird vibe just by looking at him. She wasn't sure if the two heard her or not but the bot stopped and they glanced over in the groups direction.

"Stay where you are!" Prowl ordered.

"And put the human down," Ultra Magnus added.

The bot didn't answer but stared at them before he turned his attention back to the girl in his hand. E.J. looked exhausted even from where they stood. But she smiled just the same when she saw them. "Hey everyone! It's nice seeing you. I gotta go now. Take care Veritron I love ya sister. Percy… Love ya mister smarty pants. But I can't stay around this time…" She looked up to the bot holding her. "Wreck n rule!" Just like that the bot began walking again and they lost sight of him behind a building.

"Come on!" Perceptor was the first to transform and take off after them.

"I don't like how E.J. said that," Verity said as she got back in Kup. "You don't think…"

"I don't know," the old mech cut her off. "But there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

~*~

Nearby.

"Thank you," I told him. "For letting me say goodbye. I knew Verity wouldn't listen to me… Though I woulda done the same." I patted his servo as he finally stopped walking. Right in front of my favorite building. "It's been a wild ride so I can't complain. Can't say it's the way I saw myself going out but…" I stopped for a second to get a grip. I wasn't horribly sad. Yeah I'd miss everyone but I had a good run. Not everyone can say that. "I guess I'll see if that 'All are one' thing is real or not."

He brought up the datapad. "What is it?" He pressed a button on it and I saw my name. "Oh…" I also saw the time of death listed right next to it.

~*~

With Verity's group.

"We're almost there," Prowl informed them.

"Hang on E.J.," Verity said. "Can't you go any faster?"

~*~

Elsewhere.

He set me on the ground and I swayed back and forth a little. I heard engines not too far off and the sound of rubber burning. I glanced back and saw a group coming in fast. "Percy," I smiled as I recognized who was out in the lead.

"Sleep," I heard a voice tell me. When I glanced up though he hadn't said a thing. "Sleep little one…" The voice repeated. I collapsed on the ground and stared up at the sky while keeping him in my line of sight. "You don't have to fight anymore…"

"But… Percy….Verity," I said as my head spun.

"You can go home…"

"Wreckers don't stop fighting… They never give up…"

"E.J.," a familiar voice called out to me.

"Eventron," another called.

"Who? Oh it's you guys…" I managed to tilt my head to the side so I could see the others. "Percy… You came for me after all…" Slowly I felt my eyes closed. I wasn't looking at the sky or the Necrobot when I did so. No, I stared right at my friends coming for me. They were the last thing I saw before my world went black.

~*~

Perceptor would later have to replace the rubber on his tires but at the moment he didn't care. Up ahead he could see E.J. and the bot who had taken her. The bot bent down to where her form was lying on the ground and gave her a pat before he stood up again and walked off. He didn't do so with any deliberate speed but at a rather even pace.

The scientist finally reached her and transformed. Metal screeched as he slid across the bridge's surface. He took out his weapon to fire but before he could even do so the bot disappeared around a corner. "Drat," he vented as the others caught up to him.

"We will pursue him," Prowl stated.

"Aid E.J.," Ultra Magnus told him. The two ran past him as Kup stopped and Verity jumped out.

"E.J.!" she practically screamed and ran over to her. Both bots went over and although their scanners weren't as good as Ratchet's would be they didn't see anything too alarming. To them it appeared as if she just passed out.

"Kid," Kup started. "Are you alright?" he tried as Verity leaned E.J.'s unconscious form up. There was no response.

"E.J.?" Verity shook her. "Come on! Wake up."

"The suspect evaded us," Prowl and Ultra Magnus joined them a moment later. "It was as if he vanished from our scanner range." They stopped when they noticed Verity with E.J., who wasn't responding, and neither of the Wreckers looked happy.

"How is she?" Ultra Magnus inquired.

"She's not waking up," Verity all but cried. "E.J.! E.J.! Please, you can't leave me too! Wake up!" The unconscious girl's head moved from side to side as she was shaken but other than that there was no movement. **"E.J.!"**


	17. Nothing's Gonna Keep You Down

"Do I even want to know what's been going on?" Ratchet asked them after he'd scanned E.J. and placed her in a room. Currently, she was in beside Springer, of all bots, in her own berth. She looked tiny compared to it and somehow he'd managed to make her an IV. A monitor next to her read her vitals.

Verity sat on it next to her while Kup watched over them. Ultra Magnus, Prowl, and Perceptor had joined the medic out in the hallway.

"It's a long story," Perceptor told him. "What is her status?"

"From what I can tell? I'm no expert on organics but it appears as though she's been denied recharge. I'm not sure how she's managed it but she might have been up for the equivalent of a week straight."

"That explains why she fell into recharge on her feet," Prowl said. "Will she be able to recuperate?"

"It's not that simple," the old medic actually vented. "Organics aren't like us. They're bodies need constant recharge in order to repair their systems. She's been denying herself it for so long her brain finally gave out in self-defense. However… The damage might already be too great. I'll have to do a little more research to confirm it but I believe she's in what humans call a coma. She can't wake up and there's not much we can do about it."

"But once her body receives the proper amount of recharge will she awaken on her own?" the scientist inquired.

"Humans can come out of comas…" The medic paused and they knew this couldn't be good.

"But?" Prowl prompted him.

"When they fall into comas after depriving themselves sleep there's no guarantee they'll ever wake up. E.J. might be already gone, mentally speaking. We can keep her body functioning but that's about it." He patted Perceptor on the shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing we can do?" Ultra Magnus inquired.

"All we can do is try to make her comfortable and wait it out. I'm not going to kid you. The odds aren't in her favor."

~*~

It wasn't easy telling it to Verity and Kup. Although the human had her own suspicions and had heard rumors of what sleep deprivation could do to a person. Still, she refused to leave her friends side.

Days passed and there was no improvement. But E.J. had plenty of visitors. Mostly, the bots from the mob scene. They left offerings of their innermost energon and other items, such as crystals. They kept coming in day-after-day. There was even a time Rumbler and Gluer were able to come visit after their cases were processed.

"I'm sorry, kid," Rumbler told her. "I couldn't save ya."

"Here," Gluer handed a datapad to Verity. "She wanted you to have this."

~*~

Later that night Verity tried to figure out what exactly her best friend had been up to. It wasn't too hard to get into the thing even with a password. She knew E.J.'s password: Percylovesme. Once she was able to get on there she read everything. "So… You've been busy. But why? Why didn't you just tell me? Why keep me out of the loop?"

She could understand the others. They may have tried to stop her but it was only toward the end Verity figured out why E.J. had told her not to come there. "You… We're trying to protect me. That's why you didn't say I was the one who had the extra slug." She hugged her friend's unmoving form.

The next day when she helped clean E.J. she found out how much Garrus-9 had affected her friend. E.J. had written certain names on herself in marker. Her right leg had the name Topspin, her right thigh read Twin Twist. Her left leg had Rotorstorm and her thigh Pryo. On her left arm was written Ironfist and on her right was Fisitron. They appeared to have been written in the same spot numerous times. So even when it was cleaned off you could still faintly see an outline.

All this time and Verity hadn't really known what G-9 had fully meant to E.J. Out of all of them E.J. had appeared the least affected. She'd comforted Verity in her time of need and written off nearly being tortured like it was nothing. No one had really stopped to think of why E.J. would bother writing her experience down. Or what the entire incident had done to her.

They'd figured since she was smiling and causing trouble like always then she must have been ok. But Verity finally got why E.J. didn't want to go to sleep. Maybe her friend thought writing her memories down would help her move on. Or get the nasty images out of her head.

~*~

"Come on, kid," Kup came and got her one day. "It's time for you to get your own recharge."

Verity would have objected, she'd been sleeping next to E.J. every night on the giant berth just fine. But she noticed Perceptor waiting out in the hall and figured he needed some alone time. "Ok," she didn't argue.

~*~

Perceptor entered the room he was now eerily familiar with. E.J.'s little form on the berth hadn't moved in nearly a week and the chance of her waking was improbable. He knew they couldn't keep her on support forever. She wouldn't have wanted it that way. But when were they supposed to say it was enough? What day would he simply say he gave up hope on her?

Ratchet had informed him she'd listed him as her Conjunx Endura. Which meant he had the say in what to do with her. "What would you have me do?" he asked her form. He couldn't really move her but placed his hand partially on her. "I know you would not give up on me if our positions were reversed. You are strong E.J. You must fight. Fight not only for yourself but for everyone here as well. Fight…" He stopped a moment. "For me."

He stayed with her that entire cycle. He had no plan on moving until he heard someone else enter the room. "Perceptor," Prowl stated.

"Yes?"

"I would like to speak with you a moment."

"Very well. Speak."

"The charges against E.J. are to all be dropped. In light of her circumstances…"

"She will be extremely thrilled to hear that when she wakes up." The scientist was not in the mood.

"There is one other thing I need to tell you."

"And that is?"

~*~

Out in the hallway.

Verity, Ultra Magnus, and Kup had been on their way there when they stopped. Only because Prowl was thrown right through the door to E.J.'s room. "What the?"

They saw Perceptor step out. He looked like he was ready to kill the other bot. Both Kup and Ultra Magnus stepped in. Kup grabbed the scientist while Magnus helped the other bot to his pedes. "What is going on here?" he demanded.

"Ask him," Perceptor all but growled. "Ask him what his last words were to E.J."

"Prowl?" Verity asked. It was then he informed them all of what he'd said. "I can't believe it," the human sighed.

"That's low Prowl," Kup agreed.

"How dare you," Perceptor didn't need to be restrained any more but they kept them a safe distance apart. "You have no right to be here."

Ultra Magnus and Kup made them both get out of there. Prowl so he wouldn't be killed and Perceptor to clear his processor. Meanwhile Verity went to check on her friend. "You won't believe it," she told her. "But if you saw what I just did you'd have a heart attack." There was no other sound in the room besides the monitors. "I found this for you," Verity pulled out a small boom box. "You have way too much crap in your room ya know that? But I figured it couldn't hurt. It even has your favorite song on here. I thought you might want to hear it." She hit the button and the song started from where it's last left off.

**"You got your hell together**

**You know it could be worse**

**A self-inflicted murder**

**Maybe maybe**

**You say it's all a crisis**

**You say it's all a blur**

**There comes a time you've gotta face it face it**

**Hey hey hell is what you make make**

**Rise against your fate fate**

**Nothing's gonna keep you down**

**Even if it's killing you**

**Because you know the truth."**


	18. Rise Against Your Fate

I didn't feel too much different. I glanced down and saw I was still there and had on my same clothes. I looked around and saw Cybertron, only this one was all nice and sparkling and glittery. Like it was brand new or something. "What the heck?"

"Bout time you got here," a voice said in front of me.

"Stormy?" I inquired as Rotorstorm stepped from behind a building. "You're here?"

"Where else would we be?" Topspin joined him.

"Not like we have anything better to do," Twin Twist stated.

"It's our turn to take care of you," another voice added.

"Nice to see you too Pyro," I turned to face him and saw he wasn't alone. "Ironfist! How you doing man?"

"Good," he greeted me. "I see you and Verity took care of things for me. Thank you."

"No prob. She really misses you man. So…" I scratched the back of my head. "I'm dead right? That's why you guys are here?"

"Not yet," Rotorstorm told me.

"We're here to see you off," Pyro finished.

"Whichever way you go," Ironfist said.

"What do ya mean? Does this have something to do with what the Necrobot showed me?" Back when he showed me the datapad with my name on it there was also a time next to it. However, that time didn't just stay one number; it kept changing so I couldn't honestly tell what it was.

"Kind of," Twin Twist admitted.

"You're nearly dead but not quit," Topspin took up.

"You have a choice to make," Rotorstorm stated. "You can come with us and go to the other side."

"The Allspark?" I interrupted.

"Yeah."

"Huh. Didn't know humans could go there too. Neat. What's the other option?"

"You're the same as ever. Now let me finish. Or you could go back the way you came."

"I could live? For real?"

"For real," Pyro said.

"Then it's not really a choice then… Nice to see you all and shit but where's the exit?" I glanced around some more. "Time for me to get back."

"Whoa!" Twin Twist started.

"Hold up a second," Topspin backed him up.

"You should take both options into consideration," Pyro put out there.

"Ok…"

"If you come with us think about it E.J. No more pain, no hunger, no more need. You'll get every answer you could imagine and more."

"You'll be able to meet anyone you want that's already there. Including our creator," Rotorstorm stated. "You can't tell me the curiosity isn't killing you."

"No more rules or regulations," Topspin said.

"No more worrying or nightmares," Twin Twist added. "If you miss everyone all you'll have to do is wait a little while and they'll all be here before you know it."

"You have no clue what might happen if you go back," Pyro told me. "You may live for a few days or many years."

"Either way you know everyone else will outlive you," Rotorstorm stated. "Maybe not Verity but Perceptor and the others yeah. And that's if you all get lucky and you just die of old age."

"Guys," Ironfist spoke up. "She already knows all of this. Don't try to pressure her because I'm pretty sure she's already made up her mind."

"Right you are Fisitron," I smiled at him. "Don't get me wrong the entire deal you guys are offering sounds awesome… But I can't just yet. I gotta keep an eye on everyone. Plus, who'll drive Prowl insane if I'm not there?"

"You know he feels bad about what he said right?" Rotorstorm asked.

"He didn't mean it and it's not true," Pyro added.

"Eh, I'll handle it when I wake up."

"You should know Perceptor already did," Ironfist nearly laughed. "He really does like you."

I stood there for a moment taking it all in. "So I guess this is goodbye huh? Will I see you guys again?"

"No duh," Rotorstorm smirked. "We can wait. We've got all of eternity."

"Have a good life," Twin Twist said.

"I'd say don't get too crazy but you'll just ignore that," Topspin chuckled.

"You know it."

"Take care of yourself and the others," Pyro stated. "Try to go a little easier on Prowl."

"Can't make any promises there."

"E.J.?" Ironfist asked. "I know this might be against the rules but could you say hi to Verity for me? Tell her I'm doing ok and everything?"

"Course," I smiled at him. "She'll be happy to hear that. So until I see you all again. Which way do I go to get out of here?"

"You don't have to go anywhere," Rotorstorm and the others started walking off into a blue light. "Just wait here. Though it's not gonna be easy."

"No one ever said living is," I told him as they disappeared. They entered the light and I found myself alone. The city around me got blurry and I could hear familiar voices. Living voices. "Eventron…"

"E.J."

"You have to wake up, kid."

"Nothing I can do…"

"Please wake up…"

"Fight… For me…"

"Percy!" I yelled looking around but all I saw was darkness. "Where are you guys?"

"Sorry I couldn't…"

"Wish I had…"

"I'm in here!" I yelled. "Now where's the fucking exit?"

**"Feels like your life is over**

**Feels like all hope is gone**

**You kiss it all away**

**Maybe maybe**

**This is a second coming**

**This is a call to arms**

**Your finest hour won't be wasted wasted**

**Hey hey hell is what you make make**

**Rise against your fate fate**

**Nothing's gonna keep you down**

**Even if it's killing you**

**Because you know the truth."**

I heard the music coming from a specific direction. At this point I couldn't see shit or even feel my body anymore but I followed the source. "I'm coming."

**"Listen up listen up**

**There's a devil in the church**

**Got a bullet in the chamber**

**And this is gonna hurt**

**Let it out let it out**

**You can scream and you can shout**

**Keep your secrets in the shadows and you'll be sorry**

**Everybody's getting numb**

**Everybody's on the run**

**Listen up listen up**

**There's a devil in the church**

**Got a bullet in the chamber**

**And this is gonna hurt."**

It was then I saw a light. I didn't think my consciousness had feet or anything but I flung myself toward it with everything I had. "Almost there."

**"You got your hell together**

**You know it could be worse**

**A self-inflicted murder**

**Maybe maybe**

**You say it's all a crisis**

**You say it's all a blur**

**There comes a time you've gotta face it face it**

**Hey hey hell is what you make make**

**Rise against your fate fate**

**Nothing's gonna keep you down**

**Even if it's killing you**

**Because you know the truth."**

I finally reached it and felt myself being enveloped in it. "You have made your choice…" a voice told me. "Now you must live with it."

"That's the point," I smiled. "Life might be a bitch sometimes but… It can rock pretty hard too."


	19. I'm the Crazy One?

I fought for a full minute until I got my eyes to open. "Hm," I grumbled a little as my eyes adjusted to the low light in the room. My head felt heavy but I made myself look around. I saw Verity lying next to be fast asleep. "Hey," my voice sounded scratchy and my throat was dry as shit. "Where's the funeral?"

"Huh?" she looked up hearing me. "E.J.!" she yelled realizing I was awake and practically tackle hugged me. "You're awake," she said hugging me.

"You didn't think I'd kick off that easy did ya?" I hugged her back even though my arms felt like Jello. "Veritron? I can barely breathe girl."

"You can breathe later," I saw her smiling as she finally pulled away. "You had us all really worried you know that?"

"Warms my little heart ya'll care so much about little old me."

"Hey Kup!" she yelled. Two seconds later the old mech came into the room.

"Wha-" he stopped when he saw me smiling at him.

"What up old bot?"

"Nice to see you're awake kid," he said after a beat. "Stay here and I'll get Ratchet."

"Not like I'm going anywhere."

"You didn't lose your sense of humor. I'll tell the others while I'm at it. Your boyfriend will probably ruin his tires getting over here."

~*~

The next hour involved Ratchet scanning the crap out of me and everyone basically trying to fit into the room at once. "Percy!" I jumped up when he came in. Only to stumble a bit and Verity was the only thing that saved me from face-planting it. Ratchet warned me my muscles might be a little weak from being in a coma for a week straight.

"Missed ya," I hugged his hand when he came over. By this point in time everyone was in the room. I even got a little surprise from familiar faces. "Impactor, Guzzle?" Everyone looked ready to shit themselves when they walked in. "Weren't you guys off tearing the universe a new one?"

"Got a call you weren't doin' too well," Impactor stated.

"I thought if something was gonna take you down it would be Prowl not the Necrobot," Guzzle noted.

"I see you're still carrying that gun around. Compensating for something?"

"If you weren't in that berth…"

"Ease up kid," Kup told him.

"Did we miss something?" Impactor indicated the door. "There's a crowd outside and I don't think you owe them credits."

"It's a long story." Later that day Ultra Magnus and Kup were filling them in, leaving only Verity and Percy with me. Springer looked even better in the berth next to mine. I had no doubt he'd be up and about soon. The others weren't as hopeful but then I reminded them I wasn't supposed to wake up either. That's when we got a surprise guest.

"What are you doing here?" Percy questioned and I could feel the undercurrent of ice in his tone.

"Down Percy," I patted him. "How ya doin' Prowler? I heard I wasn't on your most wanted list anymore."

"Evelyn…" He stopped when I noticed Percy was giving him a 'I'm going to get my gun any second now' look. "E.J. I hoped I could speak with you."

"Wow, you actually called me by my real name. Sure dude go ahead."

"I don't know Eventron," Verity said next to me. "You sure you don't want us to throw him out? He talked shit about you last time you saw him."

"Nah that's old news. I'll hear an old friend out." I motioned for him to go ahead.

"I am here…" He stopped for a second and I could tell he noticeably stiffened. "To apologize. My conduct was unbecoming of an officer or an Autobot. You are…"

"You've said enough," I saved him from having to go on. "I've been a royal pain in the aft many a time. It's a wonder you put up with me that long. It's all good now."

He stared at me a long time. "You are remarkable," he finally said.

"I do try. Hey, boys? Mind if I get a minute alone with my bestie?" They nodded and left. Though Perceptor still gave Prowl space. I think even though I was over it he wasn't.

"What did you want to talk about?" Verity asked me.

"You've probably read my datapad by now, haven't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know why I did all of this and put you all through shit. Sorry about that by the way."

"You had to do what you had to," she sighed. "But I still don't get something."

"What?" I asked.

"Why did the Necrobot show up and break you out of Prowl's jail? I mean you could've just collapsed in the cell and the same thing would have happened. Why show up and let everyone see him? I though he was into being a myth and all that crap."

"Good question. He didn't tell me outright but I think he wanted everyone to see him… So that they would understand they don't know everything about the universe. There's a lot of things out there we will never understand. Sometimes you practically have to bitchslap these bots to get them to notice something. By the way, I saw the guys."

"What guys?"

"Everyone who's names I've written all over my body. Ironfist said we did a good job and to tell you hi and he's doing alright on the other side." I told her this in private for a reason. I wasn't sure the others would believe me. Ratchet would probably give them some bullshit medical excuse and they'd jump on it than accept the truth. Verity told me they mostly didn't even think the bot who stole me was the bloody Necrobot who was right in front of their faces. Their theory was he was just some random neutral. Plus, for what happened next. "It's ok, Veritron," I held her as tears escaped her eyes. "I don't doubt we'll see them all again one day. Just not today."

"What are you going to do now?" Verity held up my datapad as she composed herself. "I didn't tell anyone and none of your followers said a word about this."

"You keep Ironfist's gift under wraps. I'll let my shit out and see what old Prowler does. He's not gonna be happy about how he looks in it."

"I don't think anyone's going to be happy but the can deal with it. Anything happens to you and shit will really hit the fan."

"Nice to know." I sat back and sighed. I might have just got out of a coma but I was still really tired.

"You should get some sleep," she stated.

"I just slept for a week straight," I bantered.

"None of that," she pulled my blanket up and fixed my stuff. "We can't have you doing this again. I don't think Percy's spark could take it. Now you get some rest and I'll be back in a bit. I'll get you something to eat."

"I want sugar!" I called after her as she left the room. It was now eerily silent being by myself with only unconscious Springer and the monitors making noise. I felt my eyes get heavy and yawned. I was just about to drift off when the door to the room opened.

"Oh hey," I greeted the familiar figure. "How are you doing?" He didn't say anything like always but walked over to my bedside. "I still don't get how they can't believe in you. Especially after you vanished on them. Guess there's just no convincing some bots huh?" The Necrobot slowly nodded. "Sorry 'bout turning down the offer but I just couldn't go yet. I made a promise," I tapped the datapad, "And I entend to keep it."

He brought up a hand and gently rubbed my head. It was the closest thing to a hug I was sure he could give. Then he pulled up his other servo which held his own pad. I glanced and caught some familiar names. "No thanks. It's one thing if I know when I'm going but I don't want to know everyone else's. Seems a little disrespectful… Not sure how though." He put the pad away but his other hand remained. "You know if I wasn't already Percy's you'd be a nice bot. But I'm a taken girl and one thing I can say is I'm faithful." His half-smile/half-smirk he wore grew a bit and he slowly removed his servo.

"Guess I won't see you for a while yet. But don't be afraid to visit once in a while if you're in town. The war might be over but something tells me you're going to be busy as ever." There was a long pause but for once I didn't think it was awkward. "I stand by the choice I made. No regrets and all that. You ever have any?" No verbal answer but I got his reply just the same. "To each his own. I'd like to see the world the way you do for a day. But not for a time, I'd make everyone shit if I kicked the bucket now. They at least knock off Overlord yet?" He shook his head.

"No? What the fuck they waiting for? Geez, I'm gonna grow old and die before they get to offlining him. That would be a sight. You've probably seen so many bots and cons go you've seen it all huh? I heard stories of the DJD and it would be a hell of a party if I meet them." He gave me a long stare. "I know, I know. But you never know what's in store later on. For all I can guess they'll come to Cybertron one day. Or… I'll hitch a few rides and go on my own quest. Except I'm pretty sure everyone here would murder me if I did that."

We heard voices down the hallway. "Time for you to go. Well, thanks for the adventure. Maybe we'll have another together one day." His optics shown a little brighter at that. "For now I'll see ya around my friend."

"E.J.?" the door opened a second later. I saw Verity, Perceptor, Ultra Magnus and the rest of the gang standing there. "Who were you talking to?"

"Knowing her she was talking to herself," Guzzle spoke up.

"Hehe," I laughed. "Actually, I was talking to an old friend. And something tells me I'll see him again soon. Maybe a little too soon."

Verity instantly knew who I was talking about. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Or me," Perceptor took up. I wasn't sure if he knew who Verity was alluding to or not but it was still sweet.

"Don't worry Percy," I reassured him. "You're my one and only."

"You talking about that weird bot?" Kup asked. "Hell no. He's not getting near you again."

"We get a shot at the Necrobot?" Guzzle asked. "Cool."

"And you guys think I'm the crazy one?" I giggled and it blew into full on laughter.


End file.
